Law Review & Franchise

Employment discrimination is one of the most common issues in the United States. Almost every day, an applicant or a current or former employee gets involved in a discriminatory act by an employer or a co-employee. He or she is discriminated against in all aspects of employment because of being a part of the protective class. Employers and/or co-workers usually discriminate against an individual for his or her:

• Race
• Color
• Religion
• Sexual orientation
• National origin
• Age
• Disability or genetic information

If a person is believed to have been discriminated against at work because of being a part of a protective class listed above, he or she can actually file a Charge of Discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

About the EEOC

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that is responsible for imposing federal employment laws, particularly those that prohibit erring parties to discriminate against an applicant or an employee because of the person’s protective class. Also, the EEOC enforces federal employment laws that will charge a business entity for discriminating against the person for taking action of such.

The EEOC’s implementation of federal employment laws covers all aspects of employment, from hiring, termination, promotion, harassment, training, wages, and benefits. Basically, the EEOC’s role is to investigate discrimination charges against employers. They will review and assess the points of allegation and try to come up with a conclusive finding. If discrimination occurred in the charge, the EEOC will settle it, in which the employer is set to pay a specific amount worth of damages to the claimant.

Filing a discrimination charge

The EEOC covers all laws that prevent an employer from discriminating against an employee, as long as the employer has 15 or more employees (except for age discrimination cases that cover a company with 20 or more employees). It is a requirement for the employee or applicant to file a Charge of Discrimination with the EEOC before he or she can file a discrimination lawsuit against the employer.

Before the person can file an EEOC charge against the employer, they will first go through an informal mediation process. It is done to resolve any disputes in hopes that the charge will no longer be investigated further. A mediator of neutral standing oversees the confidential proceedings. If this does not resolve any problems between the two parties, the EEOC will then begin the investigation.

The investigation of the discrimination charge may result into many scenarios. If the investigation finds that the employer did not violate any discrimination laws, then the discriminated employee is given a Notice of Right to Sue. This means that he or she is given the opportunity to file a lawsuit against the erring employer. If there is a violation of a certain discrimination law, then the EEOC will attempt to reach a settlement with the employer.

Laws and regulations are an integral part of modern society, and they have been with us for a very long time, many centuries to be exact, giving us a guide to follow and conventions to respect. Well, the Internet has also become an integral part of modern society, and it’s no wonder that many countries all around the world are trying to create Internet or Cyber laws that will govern everything we do online. One of the most important Internet laws is in fact the Internet Copyright Law, and here will be discussed how it works in some detail.

The US Internet Copyright Law
Everything created on the Internet after the date of April 1 1989 is protected under the American Internet Copyright Law. This can in many cases probably be difficult to understand, but the fact is that if you come from the USA, and you have created something and uploaded it on the World Wide Web is the last 20 years or so, this work of your is protected, and it cannot be stolen by anybody. However, this is true only in theory.

The Problems with the Internet Copyright Law
Yes, it is true that you hold all rights to your work as the original author ever since your work has seen the light of the Internet day. Yes, it is also true that you have the right to take action if someone happens to steal your original work from the Web. However, the problem arises when there is more than one country involved in this process. Namely, if you are an American, and your work has been illegally downloaded by a person from let’s say Albania, there’s probably nothing you’ll be able to do about it. The reason for this is the fact that most countries don’t have any rules or regulations regarding the Internet, so even though you might know exactly who stole your work, in many cases you will not be able to act on this fact.

Another important issue related to the Internet Copyright Law is the fact that you often cannot know who violated the law, meaning that there are ways to steal your work from the Internet without you knowing who was actually responsible. For example, modern technology can, by tracing IP addresses, tell you where the person who stole your work was, but can never tell you exactly who this person is.

The Internet Copyright Law and Plagiarism
Plagiarism is another interesting subject related to the Internet Copyright Law, as in many cases it cannot be proven. For example, if you have taken a photograph and uploaded it to the Web, and if someone took this photo without crediting you as the original author, then you can make this person remove the photo, or even sue the person. However, if you have written an original article, for instance, and uploaded it on the Internet, you cannot do anything if someone read your article and steals the idea, even though plagiarism is actually defined as using someone else’s words, quotes or even ideas as their own.