The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
- The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed by congress in 1990 and it was the nation's first civil rights law that included people with both physical and mental disabilities. An individual with a disabilities is a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of having an impairment or is regarded of having one.
- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission(EEOC) was given enforcement on the discrimination provisions. At this time Congress gave the Commission two years in order to make new regulations and time for the employers to meet the new requirements.
- Between the years 1993 and 1999, the EEOC issued eight enforcement guidences that underlined the main ideas of the ADA. These main ideas included pre-employment inquiries and medical examinations, workers comp. benefits, psychiatric conditions, and the meaning of the term "qualified". In 1995 the EEOC provided their denfenition of "disability".
Examples of the strength of the ADA:
1993- A company limited the health insurance plan for people with AIDS to $50,000, while providing up to $500,000 to other catastrophic conditions. In this case both the company and the union agreed to pay $100,000 for medical expensives and damages, also to remove the limit on the AIDS coverage.
The Civil Rights Act of 1991
-Reiterated the principles of the Civil Rights Act Of 1964
-Made employment discrimination based on color, race, gender and religious creed illegal
-Incorporated features of 1866 employment law by granting damages to injured party
-Added potential employee’s covered by the 1967 Age Discrimination Act
-Protected disabled with 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act
-Sent shock waves throughout business community and satisfied civil rights activists who wanted a more powerful version of the 1964 civil rights act
-Strongly protective of the rights of women and minorities
-Many minorities and women were able to win large damages and caused businesses to review their employment procedures, ultimately resulting in the hiring of more women and minorities
-Since put into action, the 1991 CRA has resulted in a rising number of discrimination lawsuits brought up against employers and businesses. In 1997, U.S. district courts recorded 23,796 new civil rights employment cases, along with thousands more that are still pending or in appeal. Approximately a threefold increase since 1991
-Civil Rights Act of 1991 has had a dramatic influence on the business world
The Los Angeles Roits and Rodney King 1992
-The Rodney King Trials
March 3, 1991: Rodney King was viciously beaten by four LAPD officers after being pulled over for speeding.
March 15, 1991: The three police and one Sergeant are charged with assult "by force with deadly weapon likely to produce great bodily injury."
April 29, 1992: The jury verdit is in. A jury of 10 whites and 2 hispanics find the officers not guilty on all charges, even when they had the evidence on tape. Since the tape was played nation wide people knew that the officers were guilty and many African Americans started rioting in South Central Los Angeles.
August 1, 1992: Ferderal Grand Jury indicates the officers for violating King's constitutional rights and the Sergeant by willfully permitting then others to beat him.
April 17, 1993: the verdict is given by the jury-
Sgt. Koon and Officer Powell were guilty as charged, while Officer Briseno and Officer Wind were not guilty.
In Los Angeles the African American population was very angry because of the verdicts given in the Rodney King case. There was more than 50 killed, over 4 thousand injured, 12,000 people arrested, and $1 billion in poperty damage. People stood back and watched cares burn in the middle of the street.
The Equal Opportunity Act of 1995
The Equal Opportunity Act of 1995 makes it illegal to discriminate against a person on the basis of:
-age
-gender identity
-imparment
-lawful sexual activity
-physical features
-pregnancy
-race
-religious belief or activity
-sexual orientation
The Act also:
-places a responsibility on employees for maintaining a workplace free of discrimination and sexual harassment
-makes it unlawful to sexually harass a person at the institution(including schools and students).
-promotes equality of opportunity between persons of different sex, age, marital status, race and other specified attributes
The areas in which the Act operates are:
-Employmet
-Education
-Goods and services
-Club and club members
-Local government
There are very few exceptions to this act that an employer can use. An employer can discriminate against someone only if it is necessary to protect the general welfare of the other employees.