Civil Right and Racial Discrimination.
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 is applicable to private and public employers (except federal employers) and protects all members of other ethnic groups (i.e., whites, blacks, Asians, etc ) from racial discrimination. It is unlawful to discriminate based on race in creating and enforcing all contracts, including employment contracts. The Supreme Court has explained that the statute prohibits such acts on the basis of race. "The refusal to enter into a contract with someone as well as the offer to make a contract only on discriminatory terms. [It] does not extend . . . to conduct by the employer after the contract relation has been established, including breach of the terms of the contract or imposition of discriminatory working conditions" (Alexander, 2001).
Discrimination in the workplace based on associating with people of a particular race is prohibited. For instance, if an employer fired a white employee because she had black friends, or was dating a black man, the white woman would have a discrimination suit, as to whether or not the employer is prejudiced against whites. Not only does discrimination happen against blacks and whites, it sometimes happens based upon "color-. If an employer hired a "light-complexioned- black applicant with "Caucasian features- over one with a "dark complexion- and "Negroid features-, it would also constitute discrimination even though one race wasn't chosen over another.
The Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission states under the Title VII of The Civil Rights Act of 1964, " protects individuals against employment discrimination on the basis of race and color as well as national origin, sex, or religion-(Alexander, 2001). The Federal government also says that, "Discrimination on the basis of an immutable characteristic associated with race, such as skin color, hair texture, or certain facial features violates Title VII, even though not all members of the race share the same characteristic- (Alexander, 2001).