DATE: March 1, 2012
SUBJECT: Constructive Discharge Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) protects employees form discrimination from its employer in regards to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; also known as protected class members. The Civil Rights Act was enacted in 1964 due to discrimination that was taking place against African Americans and women. Since its enactment in 1964 several modifications of the act have taken place. Title VII was modified in 2000 to include that one cannot discriminate one who associates with said such protected class member, ex. interracial marriage (Dempsey & Petshce, 2006).
Given the current situation Title VII applies to this case. The employee has proved that they are indeed a member of a protected class, in this case religion. As a company we have a duty to respect and accommodate the employee who notifies us of a religious accommodation. We must accommodate the employee within reason as to no discriminate or hinder their religious practices.
Constructive Discharge
Within Title VII there is an element called ‘constructive discharge’. Constructive discharge is a recourse for employees to use under Title VII. It allows the employee to “quit” his or her job due to intolerable conditions, which any reasonable person would be forced to “quit” the employment position. In other words the employee uses constructive discharge to convince the court that his or her act of quitting is one in the same as the employer discharging the employee (Dempsey & Petsche, 2006).
In this case the employee is attempting to convince the court that he was forced to quit due to an intolerable condition. He states he was not able to practice his religion with the new work schedule policy. The employee under Title VII has a legal precedence to which the employer is require to make a reasonable
References: Cary v. Carmichael, 908 F. Supp. 1334 - Dist. Court, ED Virginia (1995) Chrysler Corp. v. Mann, 561 F.2d 1282, 1285 (8th Cir. 1977) Dempsey, G. E. & Petsche, J. N. (2006, August 01). Constructive discharge. Library Law, Retrieved from http://nsls.info/articles/detail.aspx?articleID=80 Gomez-Mejia, L., Balkin, D., & Cardy, R. (2007). Managing human resources. (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973) Perry v. Harris Chemin, Inc., 126 F.3d 1010, 1013 (7th Cir. 1997)