1. Iowa Civil Rights Commission Disclaimer The information contained in this presentation is a brief overview and should not be construed as legal advice or exhaustive coverage of the topic.

2. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) & Iowa Civil Rights Commission (ICRC) EMPLOYMENT LAWS

3. What is Discrimination? • Different treatment, adverse treatment, because of protected personal characteristic or basis (i.e. age or race) • Harassing conduct because of protected personal characteristic • Adverse impact: facially neutral policy that impacts a protected class group

4. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION Established by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and began operating on July 2, 1965. The mission of the EEOC is to promote equal opportunity in employment through administrative and judicial enforcement of the federal civil rights laws and through education and technical assistance.

5. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION • Enforces federal statutes prohibiting employment discrimination,including: • Title VII, as amended, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; • Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as amended (ADEA), which prohibits employment discrimination against individuals 40 years of age and older; • Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in compensation for substantially similar work under similar conditions;

6. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION • Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of disability in both the public and private sector, excluding the federal government; • Civil Rights Act of 1991, which includes provisions for monetary damages in cases of intentional discrimination and clarifies provisions regarding disparate impact actions; and, • Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, which prohibits employment discrimination against federal employees with disabilities.

7. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Area: employment • Bases: race, color, sex, national origin, religion; also prohibits retaliation, and pregnancy discrimination • Covers: employers with 15+ employees. Prohibits discrimination because of protected class in all aspects of employment

8. Equal Pay Act • Area: employment • Basis: sex • Men and women who perform substantially equal work should receive the same pay • Law does not apply to factors other than sex, such as seniority or merit

9. Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) • Area: employment • Basis: age 40 or older (no upper limit) • Covers employers with 20+ employees • Bars mandatory retirement, refusal to hire because of age, as well as different treatment because of age

10. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) • Area: employment, under Title I • Basis: physical or mental disability • Covers: employers with 15+ employees. • Cannot discriminate against qualified persons with a disability in hiring and on the job, and must attempt reasonable accommodation to known disabilities

11. Iowa Civil Rights Act (Iowa Code Chapter 216) • Mission: Enforcing civil rights through compliance, mediation, education, and advocacy • Vision: A state free of discrimination • Program areas: case processing; mediation; public education; community diversity appreciation teams; study circles. • Relationships with local & federal agencies.

12. Iowa Civil Rights Act (Iowa Code Chapter 216) • Areas: employment, housing, credit, public accommodations, education • Bases: age, race, color, sex, national origin, religion, creed, physical or mental disability, familial status (in housing), marital status (in credit) • Filing period: within 180 days of latest discriminatory incident, or person reasonably became aware

13. How a complaint is processed • Intake • Screening • Mediation • Investigation • Conciliation • Public Hearing

14. Employment Situations... • Pre-employment: eliminating barriers for protected class persons in job descriptions, recruitment, advertising, application process, interviewing, selection decision • Terms and conditions of employment: equal treatment in wages, working conditions, discipline, benefits, and prevention of harassment

15. Employment Situations... • Terminations: equal treatment in termination decisions, layoff and recall, providing of references • Prohibition against retaliation for filing a complaint, participating in an investigation, or opposing a discriminatory practice

16. Iowa Civil Rights Commission 211 East Maple Street, 2nd Floor Des Moines, Iowa 50309-1858 515-281-4121 800-457-4416 FAX 515-242-5840 http://www.state.ia.us/government/crc