Iowa Civil Rights Commission

1
Iowa Civil Rights Commission

• A state administrative agency which enforces
  the Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965, also known as
  Chapter 216 the Iowa Code

2
Our Vision

• A state free of discrimination

Our Mission
To enforce civil rights through Compliance,
Mediation, Advocacy and Education.
3
Areas

• Employment
• Housing
• Credit
• Public Accommodations
• Education

4
Protected Personal Characteristics

• Race
• Color
• Creed
• National Origin
• Religion
• Sex/Pregnancy
• Sexual Orientation
• Gender Identity

• Physical Disability
• Mental Disability (not in Credit)
• Age (in Employment and Credit only)
• Familial Status (in Housing and Credit only)
• Marital Status (in Credit only)
• Retaliation

5
What is Discrimination?

• Different treatment, adverse treatment, because
  of protected personal characteristic or basis
  (i.e. age or race)
• Harassing conduct because of protected personal
  characteristic
• Adverse impact facially neutral policy that
  impacts a protected class group

6
Employment Situations...

• Pre-employment eliminating barriers for
  protected class persons in job descriptions,
  recruitment, advertising, application process,
  interviewing, selection decision
• Terms and conditions of employment equal
  treatment in wages, working conditions,
  discipline, benefits, and prevention of harassment

7
Employment Situations...

• Terminations equal treatment in termination
  decisions, layoff and recall, providing of
  references
• Prohibition against retaliation for filing a
  complaint, participating in an investigation, or
  opposing a discriminatory practice

8
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION

• Enforces federal statutes prohibiting employment
  discrimination,including
• Title VII, as amended, which prohibits
  discrimination on the basis of race, color,
  religion, sex, or national origin
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as
  amended (ADEA), which prohibits employment
  discrimination against individuals 40 years of
  age and older
• Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which prohibits
  discrimination on the basis of gender in
  compensation for substantially similar work under
  similar conditions

9
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION

• Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of
  1990 (ADA), which prohibits employment
  discrimination on the basis of disability in both
  the public and private sector, excluding the
  federal government
• Civil Rights Act of 1991, which includes
  provisions for monetary damages in cases of
  intentional discrimination and clarifies
  provisions regarding disparate impact actions
  and,
• Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as
  amended, which prohibits employment
  discrimination against federal employees with
  disabilities.

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Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)

• Area employment
• Basis age 40 or older (no upper limit)
• Covers employers with 20 employees
• Bars mandatory retirement, refusal to hire
  because of age, as well as different treatment
  because of age

11
Facts related to Older Workers

• Life expectancy and financial need will keep
  people in the workforce longer
• Over 1/2 of all employed Americans want to work
  past 65
• Earnings now account for 24 of the money income
  of the elderly
• Older workers prefer part-time employment
• The job-seeking skills of older workers are often
  outdated
• Older workers remain unemployed longer than
  others

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Older Worker Qualities

• Superior attendance record
• Low accident record (although they stay out
  longer after an injury)
• Higher job satisfaction
• Eagerness to learn new skills
• Ability to learn into old age

13
Reasons Older Workers Continue to Work

• To make needed additions to retirement income
• To add meaning and purpose to life
• To keep busy
• To make social contacts
• To preserve identity tied to work
• To use their special skills and education

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Advantages to Employers of Older Workers

• Reliable work habits
• Loyalty to the job and the firm
• Experience
• Stability of older workers with less turnover
• Less concern about advancement
• Equal or better productivity rates
• Standard fringe benefits not necessarily needed
• Willingness to work on a part-time, and/or
  temporary, and/or seasonal basis

15
Employment Pool
The Urban Institute projects the number of people
in the labor force over age 45 in 2005 will be
nearly 33 percent higher than in 1995.
16
Road Blocks to Age Appreciation

• Stereotypes
• Prejudice
• Discrimination

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Stereotype

• A misconception about an individual or group,
  based on the belief that all people in a certain
  group will act the same way.
• Example Allare lazy.

18
Prejudice

• An irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular
  group, race, or religion
• Making up your mind about what a person or group
  is like before you get to know them.

19
What is discrimination?

• The act of giving unequal treatment to an
  individual or group of people because they are
  members of a certain culture or race, or because
  of their age or other differences. Persons are
  denied equal opportunities because of their
  differences.

20
What you can do to fight age discrimination

• Know yourself and your own culture.
• Examine your own attitudes towards people who are
  different from you.
• Try to identify the origin of your negative
  reaction toward differences.

21
What you can do to fight age discrimination

• Decide if your biases are getting in the way.
• Be willing to talk, listen and learn.
• Speak out against insensitive remarks and
  discriminatory behavior.

22
What you can do to fight age discrimination

• Take action when appropriate and address
  discriminatory behavior.
• Continue to respect, accept and appreciate
  differences.
• Promote diversity appreciation in your community.

23
What you can do to fight age discrimination

• Be aware of the subtleties of discrimination.
• Be aware of how discrimination hurts and who it
  hurts.
• Act as a role model.

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Iowa Civil Rights Commission

• Grimes State Office Building
• 400 E. 14th Street
• Des Moines, Iowa 50319
• 515-281-4121
• 800-457-4416 (toll free)
• fax [phone]
• www.state.ia.us/government/crc