What Is the Impact on the Workplace of Federal Regulations? What Was the Workplace like Before Title Vii? After?

What is the impact on the workplace of federal regulations?  What was the workplace like before Title VII?  After?  

Employers must comply with various federal and state laws concerning employment. Those laws exist to protect employees and employers alike. By protecting employees and providing fair and equal employment practices an employer can protect themselves from lawsuits. The employment laws that have the greatest impact on employers are anti-discrimination laws.

One of the most important anti-discrimination laws is the Title VII law that was part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Companies affected by the law are companies with 15 or more employees, in either the private or public sector. Companies must not discriminate in employment decision based on race, religion, national origin, or sex.

Title VII changed the face of the American workplace. Before Title VII was in effect, it was acceptable to base decisions solely on a person race or gender. Most of these practices were blatant and are hard to read and process. As our culture and values changed so did federal legislation.

Some saw women are the group that benefitted the most from Title VII. “Center for American Progress, a think tank in Washington, D.C. Census figures show that women made up nearly 47 percent of the civilian workforce in 2013—compared with about 29 percent in 1967, when Title VII was still new” (Lytle, 2014). One of the most shocking bits of information I found was that women were almost not included in the law. “As Southern lawmakers fought bitterly against civil rights legislation, Rep. Howard W. Smith, a Virginia Democrat, added gender to the list of classes of people who couldn’t be discriminated against. Jones says there is some historical debate about whether Smith did it to try to draw more opposition to the Civil Rights Act and kill the measure, or whether he truly wanted women protected” (Lytle, 2014).