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The Seniority System Exemption To Title Vii Of The Civil Rights Acts: The Impact Of A New Barrier To Title Vii Litigants, Beth Wain Brandon

Cleveland State Law Review

Congress has prohibited discrimination in employment by enacting Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Section 703(h) was passed as an exemption to Title VII, in order to protect bona fide systems of seniority. The purpose of Title VII was "the prevention of unlawful employment discrimination and the amelioration and elimination of the effects of past discrimination." To this end, the courts historically have looked at the "effects" of discrimination rather than the "intent" to discriminate, when analyzing a Title VII violation. Recently the Supreme Court, in American Tobacco Co. v. Patterson, has required a showing of intent to …