Masonry Magazine May 1974 Page. 17
AN OVERVIEW
By GEORGE PLUMB
MCAA Legal Counsel
Mason contractors must operate their businesses in an increasingly complex world. An important area of developing law that must be understood relates to the response of the construction industry to equal employment. The efficiency of our democratic form of government can be measured in one way by the manner in which social problems are translated into legal problems.
No current domestic social problem has received more attention than the relatively low economic status of the black community. As a result of our respect for law, we have attacked the problem through the law. In the past decade we have created an elaborate legal structure in an attempt to reach this social problem. Old laws have been resurrected, new laws passed, executive orders issued, and an administrative regulatory scheme established.
We are now moving through a period where the employment discrimination law is in rapid development, and there is no reason to assume other than that this body of law will continue its rapid evolution through the courts and through legislation for some time. This article is directed at informing the members of the Mason Contractors Association of America with a summary of the major provisions of the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Law.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides a comprehensive prohibition against employment discrimination. The Act created the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) with authority to investigate and conciliate complaints. Pursuant to the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, which amended the 1964 Act, the Commission can directly bring civil suits against employers on behalf of alleged grieved persons. The Act also provides for the bringing of "pattern and practice" suits against private employers by the Attorney General, although this authority may be transferred to the EEOC under the 1972 Act.
In addition, the Attorney General has the authority to bring a suit against state and local governmental agencies which, as a result of the 1972 Act, are now covered by Title VII. Private complainants ants may also Iso bring suit or they may intervene when the EEOC or the Attorney General sues.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mr. Plumb is a partner in the Chicago-based law firm of Pedersen & Houpt, which has served as legal counsel to MCAA for the past 25 years. He joined the firm, which engages in the general practice of corporate law, in 1964 and has acted as legal advisor for the MCAA account since that time. Prior to that he was with the Federal Trade Commission for two years. Mr. Plumb is a graduate of Loyola University and De-Paul University School of Law in Chicago. He has authored articles on various legal topics in Masonry magazine and been a speaker at numerous MCAA functions.
COVERAGE OF TITLE VII
Title VII covers employers engaged in interstate commerce, employment agencies, labor organizations, and joint labor-management apprenticeship committees. Employers are defined as persons employing 15 or more employees (25 during the first year after the enactment of the 1972 Act) each working day in twenty weeks of the current or preceding calendar year.
Title VII prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Protected by the Act are individuals, employees, applicants for employment, union members, applicants for union membership, apprenticeships, and applicants for apprenticeships. Specifically prohibited are discriminatory failures or refusals to hire, discharges, classifications and referrals. and acts that otherwise discriminate. Also prohibited is discrimination against persons asserting their rights under Title VII.
The basic structure of the EEOC requires that if there is a state or local agency with equal employment enforcement powers in the area of discrimination alleged in the charge, the EEOC must first defer to that state agency.
When the EEOC assumes jurisdiction, it investigates the charge, may attempt to conciliate and failing that, it may file an action in a Federal court. Complainants-persons allegedly being discriminated against are also entitled to file suit and to intervene in suits filed by the EEOC.
LEGAL PRINCIPLES
In applying Title VII, the Courts have developed three particularly important principles.
First, they have held that statistics showing racial disparity standing alone can establish a case of discrimination.
(Text continues on page 20. See the EEOC Regulations chart on the next page.)