Bumping the Status Quo: Actual Relief for Actual Victims under Title VII

Congress enacted Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (the Act)' in an effort to eradicate specified categories of discrimination in private employment. Following the increased political enfranchisement of nondominant groups, the Act proclaimed an official end to the era of second-class status for women and minorities in the workforce.2 It promised a new era of economic and personal opportunity to sectors of the population previously excluded. Title VII reflected the growing notion that formal political freedom meant little without real access to economic opportunity.3 A critical aspect of the Title VII scheme was to pressure employers by creating remedies for the victims of employment discrimination. Whole classes of plaintiffs, as well as individuals, could now seek redress in the courts, and the 'Act directed courts to fashion equitable relief for victims of proven discrimination.4 Such relief was to remedy the harm done to the individual plain-