The 1970s: The "Toothless Tiger" Gets Its Teeth - A New Era of
Enforcement
Introduction
In 1971, Congress conducted public hearings on proposed
amendments to Title VII and concluded that although "EEOC has made
an heroic attempt to reduce the incidence of employment
discrimination in the nation . . . employment discrimination is
even more pervasive and tenacious than . . . Congress had assumed .
. . [when] it passed the l964 Act." As a result of the hearings,
Congress found widespread discrimination in both the private and
public sectors; little progress by blacks, Hispanics, and women in
any occupational field; continued concentration of all these groups
in the lowest paid positions and in the lowest paid industries;
discrimination and exclusion of these same groups from higher paid
jobs and occupations; and significant pay disparities traced to
such discrimination. Congress became convinced that the original
scheme, relying on conciliation and voluntary compliance, was
inadequate.
Based on these findings, Congress passed the Equal Employment
Opportunity Act of l972 to provide the Commission with litigation
authority to back up its administrative findings and to expand the
Commission's jurisdiction. The major provisions of the Act
were:
- EEOC received litigation authority to sue nongovernmental
"respondents" employers unions, and employment agencies;
- EEOC could file pattern or practice lawsuits;
- Title VII coverage was expanded to include the Federal
Government and state and local governments, as well as elementary,
secondary, and higher educational institutions;
- The number of employees needed for Title VII coverage over
employers was reduced from 25 to15; and
- The Equal Employment Opportunity Coordinating Council was
established, composed of EEOC, the Departments of Justice and
Labor, the Civil Service Commission, and the Civil Rights
Commission to "maximize effort, promote efficiency, and eliminate
conflict, competition, duplication and inconsistency" among the
various federal programs.
The 1972 Act inaugurated a new era of enforcement for the
Commission, and the decade of the l970s as a whole saw significant
progress in the development of employment discrimination law,
expanded EEOC authority, legal protections extended to millions of
persons, and the elimination of many discriminatory practices. The
"tiger" was no longer "toothless." However, EEOC's greatly expanded
jurisdiction, coupled with its outreach and enforcement successes,
also created a daunting challenge an overwhelming tide of
discrimination charges which deluged the agency, mounting every
year and culminating in a backlog of 94,700 unresolved charges by
1977.
Next: Focusing
Enforcement Efforts on Systemic Discrimination
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