Spring 2025
Employment Discrimination. This course considers the principal statutory and constitutional prohibitions on employment discrimination. It focuses most prominently on Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on "race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." The course considers the basic frameworks for proving discrimination under Title VII and the jurisprudence defining Title VII's protected classes. The course also investigates newer Title VII fields, such as the law of sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination. Using Title VII as a basis for comparison, the course then examines the constitutional law of employment discrimination, Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and various state and local statutes addressing emerging issues in employment discrimination law, such as employment discrimination based on weight or attractiveness.