Substantive Legal Developments Under Title VII

This article is based on a paper delivered by Professor Edwards at the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Chicago, Ill., on October 25, 1974. During the past few years, the proscription against employment discrimination under Title VII has been an expanding concept, embracing more and more employment practices formerly believed to be sacrosanct. As a result of this conceptual expansion, equal employment opportunity has become a powerful legal principle. This is best seen by the fact that the impact of Title VII and related laws is now being felt at all levels of employment.

No longer is Title VII merely a tool for the blue collar worker: it is now being used effectively to challenge job practices affecting teachers, policemen and firemen, white collar workers, lawyers, technicians, managers, and the like. Given this tremendous impact, it is impossible now to simply "highlight" substantive legal developments under Title VII. The legal precedents are too manifold and the issues too complex. Therefore, rather than attempt to outline all of the recent developments under Title VII, I would like to discuss several important substantive developments which have caused the proscription against employment discrimination to be an expansive legal concept.