Employment & Labor Insider

"Is 'semiquincentennial' a real word?"

On July 4, 1776 – 250 years ago this Saturday – our forefathers adopted the Declaration of Independence. In honor of the occasion, I'll run a two-part series with 76 employment law developments in our nation’s history.

Early days

1791: Bill of Rights ratified, including the First Amendment, which will become very relevant to public sector employers (speech, religion).

1866: Congress enacts 42 U.S.C. Section 1981, which gives all individuals the right to make and enforce contracts without regard to race. This statute is still invoked today in race discrimination cases. 

1868: The Fourteenth Amendment is ratified, which applies the Bill of Rights to the states and also requires that individuals be treated the same without regard to race. Also, as relevant this week (check in tomorrow!), it provides citizenship to all individuals born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to its jurisdiction.

1870: The Fifteenth Amendment gives the right to vote to all people (well, all men) regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Also, the first four federal holidays are established: New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. (Yay!)

1871: Congress enacts 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, which gives individuals the right to sue those who, “acting under color of [law,]” deprive them of their rights. This statute is still used in discrimination suits against public sector employers.

1877: Horace Gay Wood publishes his treatise "Master and Servant," which is credited with establishing the “employment at will” doctrine. In the future, employers will be disappointed to learn that the exceptions to employment at will have become the rule.

1879: Holiday for George Washington’s birthday (Feb. 22) is established.

1888: Decoration Day (now Memorial Day) holiday is established.

1894: Labor Day holiday is established.

Early 20^th century

1900 (exact date unknown): National Cash Register Company establishes what is believed to be the first “Personnel Department,” laying the foundation for the 21st-century "HR is the devil" movement. (Just so you know, this is not my view.)

1910s: Ford Motor Company establishes the eight-hour workday.

1911: Frederick Taylor publishes Shop Management, advocating that employers use scientific methods in selecting and training workers.

1920: Nineteenth Amendment gives women the right to vote.

Beginnings of the modern era

1935: National Labor Relations Act is enacted, creating the National Labor Relations Board. In 1934, Franklin Roosevelt had created a “National Labor Relations Board” via Executive Order, but it was superseded by the "new," and still current, NLRA/NLRB.

1938: Fair Labor Standards Act is enacted, regulating minimum wage, overtime pay, and child labor. The FLSA also created the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor. (Wage-Hour now also enforces the Family and Medical Leave Act.)

Didja know? The first minimum wage under the FLSA was 25 cents an hour.

"Don't spend me all in one place."

Also, Armistice Day (now Veterans Day) holiday is established.

1941: FDR issues Executive Order 8802, prohibiting race and national origin discrimination in the defense industry by companies, unions, and federal agencies.

1946: Our firm's founding father, Frank Constangy, forms our law firm, to represent management in labor and employment law matters. (Back then, mostly labor.)

Also, the Supreme Court rules in Anderson v. Mt Clemens Pottery that, under the FLSA, employers must pay wages for “preliminary” and “postliminary” time that is primarily for the benefit of the employer.

1947: Congress enacts Portal to Portal Act (signed into law by Harry Truman), which, among other things, clarified that travel time to and from the workplace at the beginning and end of the workday is generally not compensable.

1951: President Truman issues EO 10308 addressing discrimination by federal contractors and subcontractors.

1953: Dwight Eisenhower issues EO 10479, prohibiting discrimination based on race, creed, national origin, or color in connection with government contracts and subcontracts. The EO also establishes the Government Contract Committee, a predecessor to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

Swingin' sixties

1961: John F. Kennedy issues EO 10925, creating the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, prohibiting discrimination based on race, creed, national origin, or color, and requiring contractors to take “affirmative action” to ensure non-discrimination.

Didja know? Before 1963, it was legal to pay a woman less than a man for the same work because men had families to support. (Also, for any other reason.)

1963: Congress enacts the Equal Pay Act, which prohibits pay discrimination based on sex. The original EPA had a loophole for jobs that were subject to the executive, administrative, professional, or outside sales exemptions to the FLSA overtime and minimum wage provisions, meaning that women in white-collar jobs were still not entitled to equal pay.

"It's all groovy. It's not like they hire us for white-collar exempt jobs anyway."

1964: Title VII is enacted and signed into law by Lyndon Johnson.

Also, the EEOC is created.

1965: Executive Order 11246 is signed by LBJ, requiring that certain federal contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to avoid discrimination against based on race, religion, color, and national origin. The EO also created an agency called the Office of Federal Contract Compliance.

1967: The Age Discrimination in Employment Act becomes law. Generally prohibits discrimination based on age against anyone 40 or older.

Also, LBJ issues EO 11375, which amends EO 11246 to also prohibit sex discrimination.

You’ve come a long way, baby!

1968: Columbus Day holiday is established.

The seventies

1971: The Supreme Court recognizes disparate impact claims in Griggs v. Duke Power, a race discrimination case where the company required production employees to have high school diplomas or pass intelligence tests.

Also, Richard Nixon signs the Occupational Safety and Health Act into law.

1972: Title VII is amended to require reasonable accommodation of religion in addition to prohibiting discrimination based on religion.

Also, the Equal Pay Act is amended to apply to exempt white-collar jobs.

"Now, THAT'S groovy!"

Also, Congress passes the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, which gives the EEOC authority to directly sue employers for alleged discrimination prohibited by Title VII.

1973: Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits federal contractors from discrimination based on disability, becomes law.

1975: Gerald Ford changes the name of the “OFCC” to the "Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs."

1977: The Supreme Court decides in TWA v. Hardison that the “reasonable accommodation” obligation under Title VII is not onerous for employers. More precisely, the Court finds that even a minimal difficulty or expense can be an "undue hardship."

The eighties

1982: Ronald Reagan appoints Clarence Thomas as Chairman of the EEOC. Nine years later, Chair Thomas will become a Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

1983: Martin Luther King holiday is established (but not observed in all 50 states until 2000).

1986: Supreme Court decides Meritor v. Vinson, and finds that "hostile work environment" sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII.

1988: WARN Act is enacted, providing some protections to workers affected by certain plant closings.

1989: Supreme Court decides Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, finding that Title VII prohibits discrimination based on failure to conform to gender stereotypes.

"That's 46 employment law facts. Not bad, but can she make it to 76 by tomorrow?"

Come back and find out!