Pregnancy-related Protections under Title VII

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) prohibits any act of discrimination on the basis of childbirth, pregnancy, or related medical conditions, including unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII. This provision covers employers with 15 or more employees, as well as state and local governments.

Under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, PDA also applies to employment agencies, labor organizations, and the federal government. Also, women who are pregnant or were affected by pregnancy-related conditions must be treated in the same manner as other applicants or employees with the same abilities or limitations.

Here are the protections provided by Title VII:

Hiring. Any employer should not deny application of a pregnant applicant only because of her condition and other pregnancy-related stipulations, or because of the discrimination done by co-workers, customers, or clients.

Health Insurance. Any health insurance provided by employer must cover expenses for the employee’s pregnant condition on the same basis as costs for other medical conditions. However, in cases of abortion, an employer does not need to provide health insurance, except where the mother’s life is endangered.

The Importance of a Pre-employment Screening Program

One of the tactics that hiring personnel do to determine the applicant’s suitability for the position that he or she is applying for is the pre-employment screening. It is usually done before accepting an applicant for a particular post.

The major reason why pre-employment screening is necessary is to verify the qualifications of applicants. However, skills and capacities to do the job are not the only areas of consideration in the probe.

The personality backgrounds of applicants are also usually taken into consideration. In such cases, the legal services of employment law attorneys may be needed, as the “screeners” have to be thorough in the screening.

Meanwhile, here are the key areas in which a pre-screening background works:

• Conducting a pre-screening program encourages applicants to feel at ease during the interview.

• A screening program shows that an employer has made his or her duty of complying with the needed diligence, which provides a great deal of legal protection in the event of a lawsuit.

• It describes and sets limitations of uncertainty in the hiring process. Although impression and instinct during the hiring process are essential, a decision made based on concrete information is way better than any other bases.

• Doing a pre-screening can discourage applicants with their plans of hiding something. A person with a criminal record or a forged resume will simply apply to a company that does not do pre-screening.

Additionally, in the conduct of a pre-employment screening, checking criminal records is a great example, as it helps accomplish safe hiring.

There has been an inference that 10 percent of job applicants have criminal conviction records prior to the hiring process. Without pre-screening programs, statistics shown that companies unwittingly  hire someone with a criminal record.

Such record is commonly uncovered by qualified researchers who visit courthouses where the applicant has resided or worked.

People Share Mutual Disgust for Sexual Harassment

Many citizens of the whole United States were shocked to hear Herman Cain backing out from his Republican presidential bid. According to news reports, the aforementioned action of Cain was due to the drop in poll numbers brought by the accusations of sexual aggravation against him. Based on this representation, people may realize that most if not all people have mutual disgust for sexual harassment in the workplace.

Sexual harassment had been defined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as the unwelcomed sexual advances, request for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of sexual nature. Mores so it even laid out the premises unto which such maltreatment could be done to an employee.

·         Compliance toward such behavior was done whichever overtly or utterly a tenure or condition of a persons’ employment

·         Compliance towards, otherwise refusal of such behavior through a person is utilized as a basis for job decisions that affects the person

·         The action has the intention or consequence of unjustly meddling with the persons’ employment performance otherwise creates a threatening, antagonistic, or disgusting working surroundings.

UNWELCOMED

It is highly critical for the EEOC to describe the word unwelcomed as it the foundation for charges against harassment. Pursuant to the definition provided by the above mentioned agency, unwelcomed does not imply that it is “involuntary”. This is due to some of the victims may have permission or had concurred to the conduct even if they were gravely offended.

OWNER DUTIES TO THEIR WORKERS

Under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of the United States, every employer is required to thwart and bring to an end any sexual harassment in the workplace. To be specific, it requires two things:

• Take reasonable care to prevent sexual harassment
• Take reasonable care to promptly correct sexual harassment that has occurred.