Current Developments in Federal Employment Discrimination Law
17 Pages Posted: 17 Feb 2011 Last revised: 31 Mar 2015
Date Written: January 1, 1995
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is modest: to provide an overview and summary of the present, albeit conflicting, state of federal employment discrimination law with special emphasis on recent decisions within the Seventh Circuit.
Part I of this paper discusses the newest, most expansive piece of federal employment discrimination legislation, the ADA, its scope, its relationship to the Rehabilitation Act, and the limited available judicial interpretation of the ADA within the Seventh Circuit. Part II assesses the current status of Title VII in terms of general burdens and methods of proof, changes in available relief for prevailing plaintiffs under Title VII, the limited retroactive application of the 1991 Act, and the current scope of sexual harassment hostile environment law. Part III provides an overview of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and describes Congress' movement toward unifying interpretation of ADEA claims with the interpretation afforded under Title VII. Finally, Part IV of this paper summarizes the return under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 to the analytical format existing under the statute for claims of racial discrimination in employment prior to June 15, 1989.
Keywords: ADA, employment,discrimination, age, title VII
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