Title VII Does Not Preempt State Regulation of Private Club Employment Practices

Authors

David A. Garcia

Abstract

Title VII, the employment discrimination title of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, exempts private clubs from its coverage. Several states, however, have included private clubs under the coverage of their fair employment practices laws (FEP laws). This Article argues that the title VII exemption does not preempt such coverage by the FEP laws under the supremacy clause. The Article summarizes the preemption doctrine, and then focuses on the preemption provision of the 1964 Act found in title XI. The cases that have addressed this problem, especially those that have read the title VII exemption into the Civil Rights Act of 1866 by implication, are found to be unpersuasive and inapposite. The Article concludes that the correct reading of the express language of the 1964 Act and the intent of the Act's authors precludes the conclusion that title VII preempts the states' FEP laws. This result is bolstered by analysis of title VII's saving clause and by the absence of any exemption in the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.

Recommended Citation

David A. Garcia, Title VII Does Not Preempt State Regulation of Private Club Employment Practices, 34 Hastings L.J. 1107 (1983).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_law_journal/vol34/iss5/4