Well, yes, and no.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex.
It only protects certain “classes,” namely, race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. So it discriminates against just about all else. Things like height, shoe size, and overbite, no law protects. Meat-lovers, for example, are not a protected “class.” So in a way, which is by exclusion, Title VII does discriminate.
But on the other hand
Many of my intelligent friends, including some of my sharp lawyer buddies, believe erroneously, that a man cannot prevail in a Title VII lawsuit based on sex/gender discrimination. That is just plain wrong. Title VII protects against gender discrimination. Male is a gender, so there have been successful sex discrimination suits filed by men. Google it!
Likewise, many people feel that only so called non-whites are protected by Title VII. Again, Title VII protects against discrimination based on race and color, so a so called white person can file a suit based on race discrimination. In fact, there are some cases where this has happened.
Some people call this reverse discrimination. I just call it unlawful discrimination.
(http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/titlevii.cfm)
Rue Dooley, SHRM-SCP has been an HR Knowledge Advisor for SHRM for over 20 years and has plenty of HR experience as a practitioner and consultant. Rue has daily direct contact with HR professionals around the world, helping them to create solutions, to improve systems, and to find and use resources that improve the delivery of the HR function. Rue has authored and co-authored numerous articles on a variety of subjects; conducted webcasts and podcasts; created videos, and has been quoted in various media outlets.
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