Discrimination

Discrimination Paper

This article discusses how a large corporation attempted to discriminate against a person based on their gender. The corporation tried to switch the blame, claming that the employee stole papers belonging to the company. The employee filed suit against the company.

A maker of aircraft electronics, Curtiss-Wright Corp., lost a $9 million verdict. A New Jersey jury concluded that a woman executive was passed over for a promotion and fired because of her gender. The 53-year-old woman, Joyce Quinlan, was awarded $4.56 million in punitive damages in the state Superior Court in Newark; she was also awarded the same amount in compensatory damages. Joyce claimed that she was deprived of an upper management human resources position in June 2003 and that she was subsequently fired a year later because she filed a sex bias lawsuit. "The jury found she was denied a promotion because she was a woman," Quinlan's attorney, Neil Mullin, said in an interview. "The jury found that the promotion was gender-biased, and she was fired in violation of the law" (Voreacos, 2007).

In 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed to eradicate employment discrimination against persons because of their race, religion, sex, or national origin. The United States Congress passed a law in 1967 to add employment discrimination on the basis of age and in 1990, passed a law to prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of disability. Several states followed suit and enacted laws prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, national origin, age, and disability, and some state and local governments prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Although much progress has been made for equality for women in the workplace, it is clear that women continue to earn less money then men in the same position. When vying for promotions to higher-level management positions, women still face hurdles with their male equivalent. They also continue to experience sexual harassment on the job. Women of childbearing years find it increasingly difficult to get promotions, or even get hired for positions (Workplace Fairness, n.d.).

This case is a civil case, because the parties involved in the suit are not being charged with a criminal offense. The government files a criminal case against a person for alleged violation of the criminal laws in an attempt to get justice. A civil lawsuit is any lawsuit based on civil law, which refers to that branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals and/or organizations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim. Civil law pertains to the responsibility of private citizens to each other. Usually there is a plaintiff and a defendant in a civil action (Standler, 1998).

In a civil case the court tries to settle a dispute between the parties by determining their legal rights, not determining guilt for breaking some law. The court then decides what if any remedy will be satisfactory. There are procedural steps necessary to procure