November 11, 1971
Page 40714
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY ENFORCEMENT ACT
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, by enacting title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Congress acknowledged the unfortunate fact of employment discrimination in the United States. The Equal Opportunity Commission was established as the primary Federal agency responsible for eliminating discrimination in employment in the United States. Since then the EEOC has never ceased from trying to achieve the goal of equal opportunity for all Americans. Unfortunately, the Commission has been badly handicapped by not having the necessary tools to get the job done.
The EEOC was not granted the authority to issue judicially enforceable orders to correct the discrimination it has found. In prohibiting discrimination in employment based on race, religion, color, sex, or national origin, the 1964 Act limited the Commission's enforcement authority to "informal methods of conference, conciliation, and persuasion." This approach has failed. Since its inception, the EEOC has not been able to resolve satisfactorily even 50 percent of the charges brought to its attention.
The EEOC must record evidence of job discrimination without being able to do much about it.
While Congress has committed the country to a national policy of ending economic discrimination, the individuals subject to such discrimination are still very much on their own. It is up to aggrieved individuals to initiate legal proceedings, to retain counsel, to bear the cost of litigation and to devote their time to fight for justice. Usually these are the very members of our society least able to afford the expense of achieving justice and least able to wait patiently for it.
Individuals trying to seek an end to job discrimination by the present cumbersome legal procedure have been aptly recognized by one court as entering into "a modern day David and Goliath confrontation."
We must make our policy of economic equality and opportunity for all a reality. We must give the EEOC the tools necessary for its job. Therefore, I fully support the new enforcement procedures provided in S. 2515, the Equal Employment Opportunity Enforcement Act of 1971.
To accomplish the stated purpose of title VII of the Civil Rights Act, of 1964, S. 2515, while retaining the private right of action, provides for the elimination of unfair employment practices through a system of administrative hearings, Commission decisions and orders, and ultimate court review in appropriate cases – a method of enforcement which has long been authorized for other regulatory agencies. As Father Theodore Hesburgh, Chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has testified, cease-and-desist authority, provided for the EEOC for the first time in this bill, is the most effective and expeditious enforcement device available for use against employment discrimination. Experience with the administrative cease-and-desist approach reveals that it encourages early settlement of claims, thereby providing relief to congested courts and quicker justice for those who have suffered discrimination.
This legislation is especially needed to overcome job discrimination practices against both minorities and women. We can no longer ask Spanish Americans, blacks, women or other groups in our society to wait for an equal chance for a decent job.
Blacks constitute about 10 percent of the labor force; they account for only 3 percent of all jobs in the high-paying professional; technical, and managerial positions.
This consistent pattern of job discrimination of course results in economic disparity. While some progress has been made, the economic position of the Nation's black population still falls tragically short of our goal of social and economic equality. The median income for a black family in 1970 was $6,279, while the median income for whites during the same period was $10,236. And this economic disparity continues in the rate of unemployment. Black unemployment still remains almost twice that of whites.
Spanish-speaking Americans, the second largest ethnic group in this Nation, are victims of the same form of economic discrimination. Only 25 percent of employed Spanish-speaking males are in white-collar jobs, compared to 41 percent of men for all other origins. On the other hand, 58.8 percent of Spanish-speaking males are concentrated in blue-collar occupations. In 1969, the median family income for Spanish-speaking American families was only $5,641.
Employment discrimination against women increases with each new economic crisis. An analysis of the complaints recorded by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission shows a consistent pattern of discrimination against women. In its first year of operation, the Commission received a total of 6,026 charges of employment discrimination, of which one-third alleged discrimination because of sex. Of the 3,733 charges recommended for investigation, 43.2 percent were sex discrimination cases. In fiscal year 1971, allegations of sex discrimination continued to constitute a major percentage of charges filed. The nearly 16,000 charges filed in that year alleging racial discrimination were largely filed by female members of minority groups.
Discrimination is always unfair and unjust, but it is particularly tragic when it is practiced against single, widowed, divorced, or separated women who must support themselves and frequently a family. Discrimination is also unfair to women who want to supplement family income.
Discrimination, besides being unjust to the people involved, is unfair to our country. Our national prosperity depends upon the maximum use of all our resources; discrimination in pay and employment opportunity prevents us from achieving this. And more importantly, discrimination prevents this country from reaching its true greatness, from achieving its highest goals.
To end discrimination against women there are many things we must do. We must eliminate sex discrimination in public education. Extension of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to the field of education is an important improvement contained in S. 2515. Women comprise the majority of elementary school teachers; yet they comprise less than 20 percent of supervisory principals. In higher education, for those few women who teach, the chances for promotion or full professorships are extremely rare.
S. 2515, by extending the coverage of title VII to all State and local governments, should help to remedy the very low percentage of participation by women in the medium- to high-level positions in State and local government.
S. 2515 also strengthens the obligation of the Civil Service Commission to guarantee equal opportunity for the advancement of women into the higher levels of the Federal Government. If we need to be reminded of discrimination against women in the Federal Government, we have only to look at Commission statistics which show that women constitute an average of 75.2 percent of grades 1 through 5; 30 percent of grades 6 through 9, and 9.2 percent of grades 10 through 13. Only 2.3 percent of those in grades 14 and above are women.
In view of an employment market that is closed in so many areas to women, and the current widespread practice of sex discrimination, based on outmoded concepts about the role of women in our culture, only cease-and-desist powers will enable the EEOC to perform its duties to curtail employment discrimination on the basis of sex.
S. 2515 will also give women continued access to the remedy of back pay. It should be remembered that discrepancy in salaries is widespread – until recently women's earnings averaged 60 percent of salaries paid to men.
S. 2515 represents a major step forward in providing EEOC with the tools to accomplish the tasks it was assigned. Women, along with the minority groups, need this bill to make our national goals of equal opportunity a reality. I think that it is time to indicate to women, as well as to those employers who continue to discriminate, that the Congress was serious when it added the word "sex" to title VII. It is time to prove to blacks, to Mexican Americans, to other minorities that this country is serious about achieving economic equality.
We can no longer delay in providing a remedy for job discrimination. There is no further excuse for continuing to provide an institution that promises people equal job opportunities, but cannot fulfill those promises. We must pass the Equal Employment Opportunity Enforcement Act immediately to provide the EEOC with cease-and-desist powers.
The Senate will end its first session in 3 or 4 weeks. Only a few major pieces of legislation can be handled in those weeks. I believe this legislation has to be among those that are considered before we end this session. It is "must" legislation.