itle VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was one of the first of these laws. As amended by the 1972 Equal
Employment Opportunity Act, Title VII states that an employer cannot discriminate based on race, color,
religion, sex, or national origin. Specifically, it states that it shall be an unlawful employment practice for
an employer:

1. To fail or refuse to hire or to discharge an individual or otherwise to discrimi- nate against any
individual with respect to his or her compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment,
because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

2. To limit, segregate, or classify employees or applicants for employment in any way that would deprive
or tend to deprive any individual of employment oppor- tunities or otherwise adversely affect his or her
status as an employee, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Title VII bars discrimination on the part of most employers, including all public or private employers of
15 or more persons and most labor unions. It also covers all private and public educational institutions,
the federal government, and state and local govern- ments. It bars public and private employment
agencies from failing or refusing to refer for employment any individual because of race, color, religion,
sex, or national origin.

Title VII established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to administer and
enforce the Civil Rights Act at work. It consists of five members appointed by the president with the
advice and consent of the Senate. Each member serves a 5-year term. In popular usage, the EEOC also
includes the thousands of staff the EEOC has around the United States. They receive and investigate job
discrimination complaints from aggrieved individuals. When the EEOC finds reason- able cause that the
charges are justified, it attempts (through conciliation) to reach an agreement. 5 If this fails, it can go to
court. The EEOC may file discrimination charges on behalf of aggrieved individuals, or the individuals
may file on behalf of themselves.6 We’ll discuss the EEOC procedure later in this chapter. 7

■ HR AND THE GIG ECONOMY: DISCRIMINATION IN THE GIG E

state capitalism = A combination of freer markets and some government control.

supply = The quantity of products that manufacturers or owners are willing to sell at
different prices at a specific time.

demand = The quantity of products that people are willing to buy at different prices at a
specific time.

market price = The price determined by supply and demand.

perfect competition = The degree of competition in which there are many sellers in a
market and none is large enough to dictate the price of a product.

monopolistic competition = The degree of competition in which a large numberof sellers

produce very similar products that buyers nevertheless perceive as different.

oligopoly = A degree of competition in which just a few sellers dominate the market.

monopoly = A degree of competitionin which only one seller controls the total supply of
a product or service, and sets the price.

socialism = An economic system based on the premise that some, if not most, basic
businesses should be owned by the government so that profits can be more evenly
distributed among the people.

brain drain = The loss of the best and brightest people to other countries.

communism = An economic and political system in which the government makes

almost all economic decisions and owns almost all the major factors of production.

free-market economies = Economic systems inwhich the market largely determines

what goodsand services get produced, who gets them, and how the economy grows.

command economies = Economic systems in which the government largely decides

what goods and services will be produced, who will get them, and how the economy will
grow.
mixed economies = Economic systems in which some allocation of resources is made by
the market and some by the government.

gross domestic product (GDP) = The total value of final goods and services produced in
a country in a given year.