Laws and Acts in Education
Stephen McClure
Georgia College and State University
Dr. Larry Newton
Spring 2013
Educational laws and acts are required to protect the rights of students and employees in the school setting. Title VII, Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Title IX, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, Equal Access Act, Civil Rights, Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act are a few educational laws that will be discussed below.
Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. The law also makes it illegal to retaliate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination, investigation or lawsuit. The law also requires that employers reasonably accommodate applicant’s and employee’s sincerely held religious practices, unless doing so would impose and undue hardship on the operation of the employer’s business (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2013). Title VII protects students and teachers from this kind of discrimination. Everyone is not the same color, race, sex or practices the same religion so there will have to be some kind of balance that will allow everyone to be accepted and this is the act that does so.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act amended Title VII to make it illegal to discriminate against a woman because of pregnancy, childbirth or a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth. The law also makes it illegal to retaliate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2013). This act is in place to protect women and women who want to have children. Women should not be afraid of...