TITLE 42 - THE PUBLIC
HEALTH AND WELFARE
CHAPTER 21 - CIVIL RIGHTS
SUBCHAPTER VI - EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
42 U.S.C. Section 2000e.
Definitions
For the purposes of this
subchapter -
(a) The term "person" includes one or more individuals,
governments, governmental agencies, political subdivisions,
labor
unions, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal
representatives, mutual companies, joint-stock companies,
trusts,
unincorporated organizations, trustees, trustees in cases
under
title 11, or receivers.
(b) The term "employer" means a person engaged in an
industry
affecting commerce who has fifteen or more employees for
each
working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the
current or preceding calendar year, and any agent of such a
person, but such term does not include (1) the United
States, a
corporation wholly owned by the Government of the United
States,
an Indian tribe, or any department or agency of the District
of
Columbia subject by statute to procedures of the competitive
service (as defined in section 2102 of title 5), or (2) a
bona
fide private membership club (other than a labor
organization)
which is exempt from taxation under section 501(c) of title
26,
except that during the first year after March 24, 1972,
persons
having fewer than twenty-five employees (and their agents)
shall
not be considered employers.
(c) The term "employment agency" means any person regularly
undertaking with or without compensation to procure
employees for
an employer or to procure for employees opportunities to
work for
an employer and includes an agent of such a person.
(d) The term "labor organization" means a labor organization
engaged in an industry affecting commerce, and any agent of
such
an organization, and includes any organization of any kind,
any
agency, or employee representation committee, group,
association,
or plan so engaged in which employees participate and which
exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with
employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages,
rates of
pay, hours, or other terms or conditions of employment, and
any
conference, general committee, joint or system board, or
joint
council so engaged which is subordinate to a national or
international labor organization.
(e) A labor organization shall be deemed to be engaged in an
industry affecting commerce if (1) it maintains or operates
a
hiring hall or hiring office which procures employees for an
employer or procures for employees opportunities to work for
an
employer, or (2) the number of its members (or, where it is
a
labor organization composed of other labor organizations or
their
representatives, if the aggregate number of the members of
such
other labor organization) is (A) twenty-five or more during
the
first year after March 24, 1972, or (B) fifteen or more
thereafter, and such labor organization -
(1) is the certified
representative of employees under the
provisions of the National Labor Relations Act, as
amended [29
U.S.C. 151 et seq.], or the Railway Labor Act, as
amended [45
U.S.C. 151 et seq.];
(2) although not certified, is a national or
international
labor organization or a local labor organization
recognized or
acting as the representative of employees of an employer
or
employers engaged in an industry affecting commerce; or
(3) has chartered a local labor organization or
subsidiary
body which is representing or actively seeking to
represent
employees of employers within the meaning of paragraph
(1) or
(2); or
(4) has been chartered by a labor organization
representing
or actively seeking to represent employees within the
meaning
of paragraph (1) or (2) as the local or subordinate body
through which such employees may enjoy membership or
become
affiliated with such labor organization; or
(5) is a conference, general committee, joint or system
board, or joint council subordinate to a national or
international labor organization, which includes a labor
organization engaged in an industry affecting commerce
within
the meaning of any of the preceding paragraphs of this
subsection.
(f) The term "employee"
means an individual employed by an
employer, except that the term "employee" shall not include
any
person elected to public office in any State or political
subdivision of any State by the qualified voters thereof, or
any
person chosen by such officer to be on such officer's
personal
staff, or an appointee on the policy making level or an
immediate
adviser with respect to the exercise of the constitutional
or
legal powers of the office. The exemption set forth in the
preceding sentence shall not include employees subject to
the
civil service laws of a State government, governmental
agency or
political subdivision. With respect to employment in a
foreign
country, such term includes an individual who is a citizen
of the
United States.
(g) The term "commerce" means trade, traffic, commerce,
transportation, transmission, or communication among the
several
States; or between a State and any place outside thereof; or
within the District of Columbia, or a possession of the
United
States; or between points in the same State but through a
point
outside thereof.
(h) The term "industry affecting commerce" means any
activity,
business, or industry in commerce or in which a labor
dispute
would hinder or obstruct commerce or the free flow of
commerce
and includes any activity or industry "affecting commerce"
within
the meaning of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure
Act
of 1959 [29 U.S.C. 401 et seq.], and further includes any
governmental industry, business, or activity.
(i) The term "State" includes a State of the United States,
the
District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands,
American
Samoa, Guam, Wake Island, the Canal Zone, and Outer
Continental
Shelf lands defined in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act
[43
U.S.C. 1331 et seq.].
(j) The term "religion" includes all aspects of religious
observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an
employer
demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably accommodate to
an
employee's or prospective employee's religious observance or
practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the
employer's
business.
(k) The terms "because of sex" or "on the basis of sex"
include, but are not limited to, because of or on the basis
of
pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; and
women
affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical
conditions
shall be treated the same for all employment-related
purposes,
including receipt of benefits under fringe benefit programs,
as
other persons not so affected but similar in their ability
or
inability to work, and nothing in section 2000e-2(h) of this
title shall be interpreted to permit otherwise. This
subsection
shall not require an employer to pay for health insurance
benefits for abortion, except where the life of the mother
would
be endangered if the fetus were carried to term, or except
where
medical complications have arisen from an abortion:
Provided,
That nothing herein shall preclude an employer from
providing
abortion benefits or otherwise affect bargaining agreements
in
regard to abortion.
(l) The term "complaining party" means the Commission, the
Attorney General, or a person who may bring an action or
proceeding under this subchapter.
(m) The term "demonstrates" means meets the burdens of
production and persuasion.
(n) The term "respondent" means an employer, employment
agency,
labor organization, joint labor-management committee
controlling
apprenticeship or other training or retraining program,
including
an on-the-job training program, or Federal entity subject to
section 2000e-16 of this title.
-SOURCE-
(Pub. L. 88-352, title VII, Sec. 701, July 2, 1964, 78 Stat.
253;
Pub. L. 89-554, Sec. 8(a), Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 662; Pub.
L.
92-261, Sec. 2, Mar. 24, 1972, 86 Stat. 103; Pub. L. 95-555,
Sec.
1, Oct. 31, 1978, 92 Stat. 2076; Pub. L. 95-598, title III,
Sec.
330, Nov. 6, 1978, 92 Stat. 2679; Pub. L. 99-514, Sec. 2,
Oct. 22,
1986, 100 Stat. 2095; Pub. L. 102-166, title I, Secs. 104,
109(a),
Nov. 21, 1991, 105 Stat. 1074, 1077.)
