Fairness and Individual Rights Necessary to Ensure a Stronger Society: Civil Rights Act of 2004

Bill: 108-s-2088
Sponsor: Sen. Kennedy, Edward M. [D-MA]
Introduced: 2004-02-12 in the Senate
Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Administrative remedies
Age discrimination
Airlines
Alien labor
Aliens
Armed Forces and National Security
Armed forces reserves
Awards, medals, prizes
Civil actions and liability
Civil rights enforcement
Class actions (Civil procedure)
Commemorations
Commerce
Conferences
Consumer credit
Damages
Decision making
Disabled
Disciplining of employees
Discrimination against the disabled
Discrimination in consumer credit
Discrimination in education
Discrimination in employment
Dismissal of employees
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Elementary and secondary education
Elementary education
Employee rights
Employee training
Employers' liability
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Evidence (Law)
Expert witnesses
Federal aid programs
Federal employees
Federally-guaranteed loans
Finance and Financial Sector
Freedom of information
Government Operations and Politics
Government and business
Government contractors
Government lending
Government liability
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Governmental investigations
Grievance procedures
Higher education
Hours of labor
Housing and Community Development
Housing discrimination
Illegal aliens
Immigration
Industrial arbitration
Injunctions
Juries
Labor and Employment
Labor contracts
Labor statistics
Labor unions
Law
Legal fees
Liability (Law)
Limitation of actions
Minimum wages
Minorities
National Guard
Negligence
Older workers
Pay equity
Punitive damages
Racial discrimination
Right of privacy
School administration
School personnel
Secondary education
Sex discrimination
Sexual harassment
Social Welfare
Special education
State employees
Students' rights
Surveys
Transportation and Public Works
Transportation and the disabled
Unfair labor practices
Veterans' employment
Vocational rehabilitation
Voting rights
Wage restitution
Wages
Whistle blowing
Women

Summary:
action_date: 2004-02-12
text: 
Fairness and Individual Rights Necessary to Ensure a Stronger Society: Civil Rights Act of 2004 - Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Education Amendments of 1972, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 to set forth requirements for: (1) establishing discrimination based on disparate impact; and (2) rights of action and recovery for unlawful discrimination (intentional or based on disparate impact) and harassment. 
 
Amends the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to provide that a State's receipt or use of Federal financial assistance for a State program or activity shall constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity to a suit under such Acts by a program employee.
 
Amends the Air Carrier Access Act of 1986 to authorize civil actions in Federal court for discrimination based on disability.
 
Settlement Encouragement and Fairness Act - Modifies the definition of &quot;prevailing party&quot; for purposes of provisions governing the recovery of attorney's fees to include a party whose pursuit of a non-frivolous claim or defense was a catalyst for a voluntary or unilateral change in position by the opposing party that provides any significant part of the relief sought.
 
Preservation of Civil Rights Protections Act of 2004 - Makes arbitration clauses in employment contracts unenforceable, with exceptions. Authorizes recovery of expert fees by prevailing parties in civil rights actions. 
 
Equal Remedies Act of 2004 - Repeals provisions limiting the amount of compensatory and punitive damages that may be awarded in cases of intentional discrimination in employment.
 
Paycheck Fairness in Employment - Amends FLSA to revise provisions governing discrimination in the payment of wages, including equal pay requirements. Establishes the Secretary of Labor's National Award for Pay Equity in the Workplace.
 
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to prohibit denying back-pay or other monetary relief for unlawful employment practices against undocumented immigrant workers.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-02-12
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced: CR S1297-1308)
action_date: 2004-02-12
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S1296-1297)
action_date: 2004-02-12
text: Introduced in Senate