Do The Civil Rights Laws Really Protect Workers?

[Viktor]

Just because a law is in place doesn't mean people will follow it. Fifty-five years after Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was passed, the EEOC received 72,675 individual complaints claiming multiple types of discrimination.7

There were 23,976 charges of race discrimination, 23,532 charges of sex discrimination, 2,725 reports of discrimination based on religion, 3,415 claims of color discrimination and 7,009 based on national origin.8

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

First off, I am not an attorney however I've had occasion to understand how this all works

What the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did was to

1) declare that in regards to employment matters, various types of discrimination of those individuals who are members of a 'protected class' due to their race, color, national original, religion, etc.' is prohibited by law. I'm guessing that prior to its passage there had been no declaratory assertion that [racial] discrimination was unlawful. The Act was later expanded to include sex and the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that race encompasses ethnic groups such as Hispanis, Arabs, etc.

The Act also provided
2) a statutory cause of action that allows a party to sue the violators of the Act in federal court although the aggrieved part must first file a complaint with the EEOC who will either sue the parties involved on behalf of the complainant, or issue a right-to-sue letter allowing the complainant to proceed to federal court in order to file a lawsuit.

The above is the "protection" provided by the act. Oh and if anyone retaliates against a person for having exercised their right to initiate an investigation or complaint of a violation of this act, either on their own behalf or on behalf of another, a separate cause of action can be filed with the EEOC for retaliation for engagement in protected activity.