Skip directly to search Skip directly to A to Z list Skip directly to navigation Skip directly to page options Skip directly to site content

Regulations, Guidance and Policy

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII)

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was landmark legislation in the United States, which outlawed racial segregation in schools, public places, and employment. The act was designed to help African Americans. However, the bill was amended prior to passage to protect women, and included whites for the first time. It also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is the agency responsible for enforcing Title VII.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion or national origin. It also prohibits reprisal or retaliation for participating in the EEO process or for opposing any unlawful employment practice covered by Title VII. The law also requires that employers reasonably accommodate applicants' and employees' sincerely held religious practices, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer's business.

  • The Pregnancy Discrimination Act

This law amended Title VII to make it illegal to discriminate against a woman because of pregnancy, childbirth, or a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth. The law also makes it illegal to retaliate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.

For more details about this law.

 Top of Page

Equal Pay Act of 1963

This law protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination. Specifically, it prohibits employers from paying employees of one sex less wages than those of the opposite sex who perform equal work. Equal work means that the jobs being compared required equal skills, effort and responsibilities, and are performed under similar working conditions.

For more details about this law.

 Top of Page

Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967

This law prohibits employment discrimination against persons 40 years of age or older in the United States. The ADEA includes a broad ban against age discrimination and also specifically prohibits:

  • Discrimination in hiring, promotions, wages, or firing/layoffs.
  • Statements or specifications in job notices or advertisements of age preference and limitations.
  • Denial of benefits to older employees. An employer may reduce benefits based on age only if the cost of providing the reduced benefits to older workers is the same as the cost of providing full benefits to younger workers.
  • Since 1978 it has prohibited mandatory retirement in most sectors, with phased elimination of mandatory retirement for tenured workers, such as college professors, in 1993.

Mandatory retirement based on age is permitted for:

  • Executives over age 65 in high policy-making positions who are entitled to a pension over a minimum yearly amount.
  • Pilots 60 years of age and older.

For more details about this law.

 Top of Page

Title I and Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990

This Act was signed into law on July 26, 1990 by President George H. W. Bush, the ADA provides a wide range of civil rights protection for individuals with disabilities. Titles I and V prohibits employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in private businesses and in state and local governments (covering both mental and physical impairments that limit major life activities), but who are otherwise qualified for employment.

The ADA prohibits discrimination in all employment practices, including job application procedures, hiring, firing, training, compensation, advancement, and any other terms, conditions or privileges of employment. The ADA does not require preferential treatment of individuals with disabilities, as employers are free to select the most qualified applicant for the position, but it does prohibit discrimination based solely on a candidate's real or perceived disability.

For more details about this law.

 Top of Page

Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

This law prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities who work in the federal government.

For more details about this law.

 Top of Page

Civil Rights Act of 1991

This Act is a United States statute that was passed in response to a series of United States Supreme Court decisions which limited the rights of employees who had sued their employers for discrimination. The Act represented the first effort since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to modify some of the basic procedural and substantive rights provided by federal law in employment discrimination cases. It provided for the right to trial by jury on discrimination claims and introduced the possibility of emotional distress damages, while limiting the amount that a jury could award.

The 1991 Act combined elements from two different civil rights acts of the past: the Civil Rights Ac of 1866, better known by the number assigned to it in the codification of federal laws as "Section 1981", and the employment-related provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, generally referred to as "Title VII". The two statutes, passed nearly a century apart, approached the issue of employment discrimination very differently: Section 1981 prohibited only discrimination based on race or color, while Title VII also prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, and national origin. Section 1981, which had lain dormant and unenforced for a century after its passage, allowed plaintiffs to seek compensatory damages and trial by jury; Title VII, passed in the 1960s when it was assumed that Southern juries could not render a fair verdict, allowed only trial by the court and provided for only traditional equitable remedies: backpay, reinstatement and injunctions against future acts of discrimination. By the time the 1991 Act was passed both allowed for an award of attorney’s fees.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA)

Effective - November 21, 2009.
This law makes it illegal to discriminate against employees or applicants because of genetic information. Genetic information includes information about an individual's genetic tests and the genetic tests of an individual's family members, as well as information about any disease, disorder or condition of an individual's family members (i.e. an individual's family medical history). The law also makes it illegal to retaliate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.

For more details about this law.

 Top of Page

Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002

Section 301 of the Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 (the No Fear Act), requires each federal agency to post summary statistical data pertaining to complaints of employment discrimination filed against it by employees, former employees and applicants for employment under 29 C.F.R. Part 1614. The specific data to be posted is described in section 301(b) of the Act and 29 CFR 1614.704. The required summary statistical data for EEO complaints filed against the CDC is available below.

In addition, section 302 of the No Fear Act requires CDC to post government-wide, summary statistical data pertaining to hearings requested under 29 C.F.R. Part 1614 and appeals filed with EEOC. The specific data to be posted is described in section 302(a) of the Act and 29 CFR 1614.706. That data is also available below. The posting of EEO data on agency public web sites is intended to assist Congress, Federal agencies and the public to assess whether and the extent to which agencies are living up to their equal employment opportunity responsibilities.

 Top of Page

Get Email Updates

To receive email updates about this page, enter your email address:

What's this?Submit
Top