Introduction to
Race Discrimination Law
Reminder
If you have not
read
Introduction
to Legal Research and Introduction
to Employment Discrimination Law, you should read these
articles first.
Read Title VII or 42 U.S.C. Section 1981
If you want to read
the actual federal statutes that make up Title VII, click on
Title
VII. This will take you to a table
of contents page. Scroll down until you see 42 U.S.C. Section 2000e. Title VII begins at
42 U.S.C. Section 2000e and goes to 42 U.S.C. Section 2000e-17. If you want to read
42 U.S.C. Section 1981, click on
Section
1981.
Claims under Title VII
Most race
discrimination claims are brought under Title VII. For a discussion of how a Title VII
claim is brought, see Pursuing an Employment
Discrimination Claim.
Generally, a Title VII
race discrimination claim can be brought by an employee (or job applicant) if the employer
has 15 or more employees. Also, some state anti-discrimination laws allow an employer with
fewer than 15 employees to be sued for discrimination. For example, in Tennessee, any
employer with 8 or more employees can be sued for discrimination.
The most frequent types of
race discrimination claims involve allegations of failure to hire, failure to promote and
wrongful termination.
The most frequent
means of proving race discrimination is to show disparate treatment
(if you have
not read, Introduction to Employment Discrimination Law, you really should do so now). In other words, the plaintiff shows that
he or she has been treated less favorably than someone of a different racial
classification. Race
discrimination claims can also be proved under a disparate impact theory.
With increasing frequency,
we are seeing race discrimination claims brought by white employees who are alleging
disparate treatment based on affirmative action policies that the employer has in place to
increase employment (and promotional opportunities) amongst different minority groups.
