WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman John Lewis and Senator Edward M. Kennedy, along with 26 House colleagues and more than a dozen Senate members, introduced the Civil Rights Act of 2008, which will strengthen accountability when civil rights and workers' rights are violated.

Recent court decisions have weakened America's civil rights laws in ways that Congress never intended.  This legislation will ensure accountability for violations of our civil rights and fair labor laws and give individuals the right to challenge practices that have unjustified discriminatory effect based on race, color, national origin, disability, age or gender. It also gives students the same protection from harassment in school that workers have on the job, and holds employers fully accountable for age discrimination and discrimination against our men and women in the armed services.

The Civil Rights Act of 2008 is co-sponsored by 26 Members of the House of Representatives including the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers and the Chairman of the Education and Labor Committee George Miller. In the senate, the Civil Rights Act of 2008 is co-sponsored by Senators Leahy, Dodd, Lautenberg, Bingaman, Kerry, Harkin, Mikulski, Akaka, Boxer, Feingold, Murray, Durbin, Schumer, Cantwell, Clinton, Obama, Menendez, Cardin, and Brown.

"The struggle for civil rights in this country," said Rep. John Lewis, "has been a long hard road, littered with the broken bodies of countless men and women who gave all they had for the cause of social justice.   They were sharecroppers, sanitation workers, teachers, students, ministers, priests, housewives, and activists.  They were ordinary people with extraordinary vision who joined together and tore down the walls of legalized segregation and racial discrimination in this country.  Only a few decades later, we cannot allow recent court decisions to turn back the clock and open the door to contemporary abuses.  That is why Sen. Kennedy and I have worked so hard to meet every judicial step backward with a legislative step forward.  We want to be able to say that on our watch, we did all we could as members of Congress to ensure the protection of civil rights in this country and hold discriminatory employers and individuals accountable.  With the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 2008, we hope the 110th Congress will hold the same legacy, as a legislative body that continued the march toward a democracy in this country that ensures liberty and justice for all."

Senator Kennedy said, "Civil rights is still the unfinished business of America.  Prejudice, discrimination, and outright bigotry continue to limit the lives of large numbers of our people, and even some courts have rolled back core protections for civil rights and workers' rights. The Civil Rights Act of 2008 will restore the bedrock principle that individuals may challenge all forms of discrimination in public services and will strengthen existing civil rights protections.  Our civil rights and fair labor laws must have effective remedies that ensure accountability for discrimination, or America will never be America."

Continued>>      

Contact:

Brenda Jones

(202) 226 - 4673

BACKGROUND ON THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 2008

Congress has enacted bipartisan laws to ensure that federal tax dollars are not used to subsidize discrimination, and that Americans have real remedies when their civil rights are violated.  Recent court decisions have weakened these basic protections in ways that Congress never intended.  Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) plan to reintroduce a bill to help keep the promise of equality by strengthening accountability when civil rights and workers' rights are violated.  The Civil Rights Act of 2008 would:

Ensure that Federal Funds are not Used to Subsidize Discrimination

• Allow individuals to seek relief when federal funds subsidize practices that have an unjustified discriminatory effect.  Federal laws prohibit discrimination by recipients of federal funds based on race, national origin, disability, age, or gender.  In 2001, however, the Supreme Court held that individuals may no longer challenge federally-funded programs that have an unjustified discriminatory effect, unless they also can meet the heavy burden of proving discriminatory intent.  Thus, currently, only the federal government can bring such suits.  This bill restores the individual right to challenge practices that have an unjustified discriminatory effect based on race, color, national origin, disability, age or gender.
• Protect students from harassment in schools that receive federal funds.  It gives students the same protection from unlawful harassment in our schools as adults have on the job.  Currently, schools that receive federal funds cannot be held accountable if a teacher or classmate harasses a child unless the school had actual notice of the abuse and did virtually nothing to correct the problem.  This is true even if the school has turned a blind eye to clear signs of harassment. 

Hold Employers Accountable for Age Discrimination

• Make state employers fully accountable for age discrimination.  Under a recent Supreme Court decision, state employers do not have to provide back pay or other monetary damages when they discriminate against workers based on age in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.  The bill would require state employers to give workers full relief for age discrimination, including backpay.
• Clarify the standard for challenging employment practices that have a discriminatory effect based on age. It makes clear that the standard of proof in cases alleging an unjustified discriminatory effect based on age is the same as in cases alleging an unjustified discriminatory effect based on race, color, gender, national origin, or religion.

Improve Accountability for Other Violations of Civil Rights and Workers' Rights

• Prohibit employers from requiring workers to give up the right to enforce employment laws in court in order to get a job or keep a job.
• Provide attorney's fees and expert fees in major civil rights and labor cases.
• Provide full, effective remedies for victims of discrimination based on gender and religion paralleling those available for race and national origin discrimination claims.
• Provide relief for workers, regardless of immigration status, who are victims of labor and employment law violations.

Contact:

Brenda Jones

(202) 226 - 4673