Socioeconomic Status Under Title VII: Why Socioeconomic Status Should Be Protected and How Class-Based Discrimination Already Violates the Law

Authors

Ember DeVaul

First Page

743

Abstract

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was enacted with a goal to end workplace discrimination. However, many workers still face discrimination today based on factors that were intended to be protected by the statute. This Comment discusses the severity of socioeconomic discrimination and why prohibiting discrimination based on socioeconomic status is important, explores how the addition of socioeconomic status as a protected class under Title VII is supported by both legislative intent and judicial interpretation, and dissects how employers are already opening themselves up to liability under Title VII when they discriminate based on an individual’s socioeconomic status.

Recommended Citation

Ember DeVaul, Socioeconomic Status Under Title VII: Why Socioeconomic Status Should Be Protected and How Class-Based Discrimination Already Violates the Law, 27 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 743 (2023).
Available at: https://lawcommons.lclark.edu/lclr/vol27/iss2/9