
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 42USC2000e-2]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
                        CHAPTER 21--CIVIL RIGHTS
 
              SUBCHAPTER VI--EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
 
Sec. 2000e-2. Unlawful employment practices


(a) Employer practices

    It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer--
        (1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or 
    otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his 
    compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, 
    because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national 
    origin; or
        (2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees or applicants 
    for employment in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any 
    individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect 
    his status as an employee, because of such individual's race, color, 
    religion, sex, or national origin.

(b) Employment agency practices

    It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employment agency 
to fail or refuse to refer for employment, or otherwise to discriminate 
against, any individual because of his race, color, religion, sex, or 
national origin, or to classify or refer for employment any individual 
on the basis of his race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

(c) Labor organization practices

    It shall be an unlawful employment practice for a labor 
organization--
        (1) to exclude or to expel from its membership, or otherwise to 
    discriminate against, any individual because of his race, color, 
    religion, sex, or national origin;
        (2) to limit, segregate, or classify its membership or 
    applicants for membership, or to classify or fail or refuse to refer 
    for employment any individual, in any way which would deprive or 
    tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities, or would 
    limit such employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect 
    his status as an employee or as an applicant for employment, because 
    of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; 
    or
        (3) to cause or attempt to cause an employer to discriminate 
    against an individual in violation of this section.

(d) Training programs

    It shall be an unlawful employment practice for any employer, labor 
organization, or joint labor-management committee controlling 
apprenticeship or other training or retraining, including on-the-job 
training programs to discriminate against any individual because of his 
race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in admission to, or 
employment in, any program established to provide apprenticeship or 
other training.

(e) Businesses or enterprises with personnel qualified on basis of 
        religion, sex, or national origin; educational institutions with 
        personnel of particular religion

    Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, (1) it shall 
not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to hire and 
employ employees, for an employment agency to classify, or refer for 
employment any individual, for a labor organization to classify its 
membership or to classify or refer for employment any individual, or for 
an employer, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee 
controlling apprenticeship or other training or retraining programs to 
admit or employ any individual in any such program, on the basis of his 
religion, sex, or national origin in those certain instances where 
religion, sex, or national origin is a bona fide occupational 
qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that 
particular business or enterprise, and (2) it shall not be an unlawful 
employment practice for a school, college, university, or other 
educational institution or institution of learning to hire and employ 
employees of a particular religion if such school, college, university, 
or other educational institution or institution of learning is, in whole 
or in substantial part, owned, supported, controlled, or managed by a 
particular religion or by a particular religious corporation, 
association, or society, or if the curriculum of such school, college, 
university, or other educational institution or institution of learning 
is directed toward the propagation of a particular religion.

(f) Members of Communist Party or Communist-action or Communist-front 
        organizations

    As used in this subchapter, the phrase ``unlawful employment 
practice'' shall not be deemed to include any action or measure taken by 
an employer, labor organization, joint labor-management committee, or 
employment agency with respect to an individual who is a member of the 
Communist Party of the United States or of any other organization 
required to register as a Communist-action or Communist-front 
organization by final order of the Subversive Activities Control Board 
pursuant to the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950 [50 U.S.C. 781 
et seq.].

(g) National security

    Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, it shall not 
be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail or refuse to 
hire and employ any individual for any position, for an employer to 
discharge any individual from any position, or for an employment agency 
to fail or refuse to refer any individual for employment in any 
position, or for a labor organization to fail or refuse to refer any 
individual for employment in any position, if--
        (1) the occupancy of such position, or access to the premises in 
    or upon which any part of the duties of such position is performed 
    or is to be performed, is subject to any requirement imposed in the 
    interest of the national security of the United States under any 
    security program in effect pursuant to or administered under any 
    statute of the United States or any Executive order of the 
    President; and
        (2) such individual has not fulfilled or has ceased to fulfill 
    that requirement.

(h) Seniority or merit system; quantity or quality of production; 
        ability tests; compensation based on sex and authorized by 
        minimum wage provisions

    Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, it shall not 
be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to apply different 
standards of compensation, or different terms, conditions, or privileges 
of employment pursuant to a bona fide seniority or merit system, or a 
system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production or 
to employees who work in different locations, provided that such 
differences are not the result of an intention to discriminate because 
of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, nor shall it be an 
unlawful employment practice for an employer to give and to act upon the 
results of any professionally developed ability test provided that such 
test, its administration or action upon the results is not designed, 
intended or used to discriminate because of race, color, religion, sex 
or national origin. It shall not be an unlawful employment practice 
under this subchapter for any employer to differentiate upon the basis 
of sex in determining the amount of the wages or compensation paid or to 
be paid to employees of such employer if such differentiation is 
authorized by the provisions of section 206(d) of title 29.

(i) Businesses or enterprises extending preferential treatment to 
        Indians

    Nothing contained in this subchapter shall apply to any business or 
enterprise on or near an Indian reservation with respect to any publicly 
announced employment practice of such business or enterprise under which 
a preferential treatment is given to any individual because he is an 
Indian living on or near a reservation.

(j) Preferential treatment not to be granted on account of existing 
        number or percentage imbalance

    Nothing contained in this subchapter shall be interpreted to require 
any employer, employment agency, labor organization, or joint labor-
management committee subject to this subchapter to grant preferential 
treatment to any individual or to any group because of the race, color, 
religion, sex, or national origin of such individual or group on account 
of an imbalance which may exist with respect to the total number or 
percentage of persons of any race, color, religion, sex, or national 
origin employed by any employer, referred or classified for employment 
by any employment agency or labor organization, admitted to membership 
or classified by any labor organization, or admitted to, or employed in, 
any apprenticeship or other training program, in comparison with the 
total number or percentage of persons of such race, color, religion, 
sex, or national origin in any community, State, section, or other area, 
or in the available work force in any community, State, section, or 
other area.

(k) Burden of proof in disparate impact cases

    (1)(A) An unlawful employment practice based on disparate impact is 
established under this subchapter only if--
        (i) a complaining party demonstrates that a respondent uses a 
    particular employment practice that causes a disparate impact on the 
    basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin and the 
    respondent fails to demonstrate that the challenged practice is job 
    related for the position in question and consistent with business 
    necessity; or
        (ii) the complaining party makes the demonstration described in 
    subparagraph (C) with respect to an alternative employment practice 
    and the respondent refuses to adopt such alternative employment 
    practice.

    (B)(i) With respect to demonstrating that a particular employment 
practice causes a disparate impact as described in subparagraph (A)(i), 
the complaining party shall demonstrate that each particular challenged 
employment practice causes a disparate impact, except that if the 
complaining party can demonstrate to the court that the elements of a 
respondent's decisionmaking process are not capable of separation for 
analysis, the decisionmaking process may be analyzed as one employment 
practice.
    (ii) If the respondent demonstrates that a specific employment 
practice does not cause the disparate impact, the respondent shall not 
be required to demonstrate that such practice is required by business 
necessity.
    (C) The demonstration referred to by subparagraph (A)(ii) shall be 
in accordance with the law as it existed on June 4, 1989, with respect 
to the concept of ``alternative employment practice''.
    (2) A demonstration that an employment practice is required by 
business necessity may not be used as a defense against a claim of 
intentional discrimination under this subchapter.
    (3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, a rule 
barring the employment of an individual who currently and knowingly uses 
or possesses a controlled substance, as defined in schedules I and II of 
section 102(6) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802(6)), 
other than the use or possession of a drug taken under the supervision 
of a licensed health care professional, or any other use or possession 
authorized by the Controlled Substances Act [21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.] or 
any other provision of Federal law, shall be considered an unlawful 
employment practice under this subchapter only if such rule is adopted 
or applied with an intent to discriminate because of race, color, 
religion, sex, or national origin.

(l) Prohibition of discriminatory use of test scores

    It shall be an unlawful employment practice for a respondent, in 
connection with the selection or referral of applicants or candidates 
for employment or promotion, to adjust the scores of, use different 
cutoff scores for, or otherwise alter the results of, employment related 
tests on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

(m) Impermissible consideration of race, color, religion, sex, or 
        national origin in employment practices

    Except as otherwise provided in this subchapter, an unlawful 
employment practice is established when the complaining party 
demonstrates that race, color, religion, sex, or national origin was a 
motivating factor for any employment practice, even though other factors 
also motivated the practice.

(n) Resolution of challenges to employment practices implementing 
        litigated or consent judgments or orders

    (1)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and except as 
provided in paragraph (2), an employment practice that implements and is 
within the scope of a litigated or consent judgment or order that 
resolves a claim of employment discrimination under the Constitution or 
Federal civil rights laws may not be challenged under the circumstances 
described in subparagraph (B).
    (B) A practice described in subparagraph (A) may not be challenged 
in a claim under the Constitution or Federal civil rights laws--
        (i) by a person who, prior to the entry of the judgment or order 
    described in subparagraph (A), had--
            (I) actual notice of the proposed judgment or order 
        sufficient to apprise such person that such judgment or order 
        might adversely affect the interests and legal rights of such 
        person and that an opportunity was available to present 
        objections to such judgment or order by a future date certain; 
        and
            (II) a reasonable opportunity to present objections to such 
        judgment or order; or

        (ii) by a person whose interests were adequately represented by 
    another person who had previously challenged the judgment or order 
    on the same legal grounds and with a similar factual situation, 
    unless there has been an intervening change in law or fact.

    (2) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to--
        (A) alter the standards for intervention under rule 24 of the 
    Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or apply to the rights of parties 
    who have successfully intervened pursuant to such rule in the 
    proceeding in which the parties intervened;
        (B) apply to the rights of parties to the action in which a 
    litigated or consent judgment or order was entered, or of members of 
    a class represented or sought to be represented in such action, or 
    of members of a group on whose behalf relief was sought in such 
    action by the Federal Government;
        (C) prevent challenges to a litigated or consent judgment or 
    order on the ground that such judgment or order was obtained through 
    collusion or fraud, or is transparently invalid or was entered by a 
    court lacking subject matter jurisdiction; or
        (D) authorize or permit the denial to any person of the due 
    process of law required by the Constitution.

    (3) Any action not precluded under this subsection that challenges 
an employment consent judgment or order described in paragraph (1) shall 
be brought in the court, and if possible before the judge, that entered 
such judgment or order. Nothing in this subsection shall preclude a 
transfer of such action pursuant to section 1404 of title 28.

(Pub. L. 88-352, title VII, Sec. 703, July 2, 1964, 78 Stat. 255; Pub. 
L. 92-261, Sec. 8(a), (b), Mar. 24, 1972, 86 Stat. 109; Pub. L. 102-166, 
title I, Secs. 105(a), 106, 107(a), 108, Nov. 21, 1991, 105 Stat. 1074-
1076.)

                       References in Text

    The Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950, referred to in 
subsec. (f), is title I (Secs. 1-32) of act Sept. 23, 1950, ch. 1024, 64 
Stat. 987, as amended, which is classified principally to subchapter I 
(Sec. 781 et seq.) of chapter 23 of Title 50, War and National Defense. 
For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables.
    The Controlled Substances Act, referred to in subsec. (k)(3), is 
title II of Pub. L. 91-513, Oct. 27, 1970, 84 Stat. 1242, as amended, 
which is classified principally to subchapter I (Sec. 801 et seq.) of 
chapter 13 of Title 21, Food and Drugs. For complete classification of 
this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 801 of 
Title 21 and Tables.
    The Federal civil rights laws, referred to in subsec. (n)(1), are 
classified generally to chapter 21 (Sec. 1981 et seq.) of this title.
    The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, referred to in subsec. 
(n)(2)(A), are set out in the Appendix to Title 28, Judiciary and 
Judicial Procedure.


                               Amendments

    1991--Subsec. (k). Pub. L. 102-166, Sec. 105(a), added subsec. (k).
    Subsec. (l). Pub. L. 102-166, Sec. 106, added subsec. (l).
    Subsec. (m). Pub. L. 102-166, Sec. 107(a), added subsec. (m).
    Subsec. (n). Pub. L. 102-166, Sec. 108, added subsec. (n).
    1972--Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 92-261, Sec. 8(a), inserted ``or 
applicants for employment'' after ``his employees''.
    Subsec. (c)(2). Pub. L. 92-261, Sec. 8(b), inserted ``or applicants 
for membership'' after ``membership''.


                    Effective Date of 1991 Amendment

    Amendment by Pub. L. 102-166 effective Nov. 21, 1991, except as 
otherwise provided, see section 402 of Pub. L. 102-166, set out as a 
note under section 1981 of this title.


                   Subversive Activities Control Board

    Subversive Activities Control Board established by act Sept. 23, 
1950, ch. 1024, Sec. 12, 64 Stat. 977, and ceased to operate on June 30, 
1973.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 1981a, 2000e, 2000e-1, 
2000e-5 of this title; title 2 section 1311; title 3 section 411; title 
8 section 1324b; title 23 section 140.
