WHEREAS:

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 for the first time allows women, people with disabilities and religious minorities to collect monetary damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination; and

WHEREAS:

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 places a cap on the amount of damages a victim of discrimination under these categories can receive while no such limit exists in cases of racial or national origin discrimination; and

WHEREAS:

Both compensatory and punitive damages act as a deterrent to employment discrimination; and

WHEREAS:

Capped damages allow employers to budget for damage awards in discrimination cases, making discrimination a predictable business expense; and

WHEREAS:

It is a basic issue of fairness that women, people with disabilities and religious minorities receive equal protection under the law including access to the same remedies as other discrimination victims; and

WHEREAS:

Uncapped damages do not cause an increase in litigation and unreasonably high jury verdicts since from 1980-91 fewer than 60 cases a year were decided under the statute that provides for unlimited damages to victims of racial and national origin discrimination — less than 12 percent of those cases resulted in damage awards and only 3 awards were more than $200,000.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME commit itself to removing the cap on punitive and compensatory damages for intentional employment discrimination based on gender, disability, or religion; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME support federal legislation which would remove the cap on punitive and compensatory damages for intentional employment discrimination under current civil rights laws.

SUBMITTED BY:

Andres Villegas, President
Janet Campbell, Recording Secretary
AFSCME Local 2399
Texas