Civil Rights Act of 1991

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 is a United States federal law passed by the 102nd Congress and signed by President George H. W. Bush on November 21, 1991. It was enacted in direct response to a series of Supreme Court decisions that had narrowed the rights of employees suing their employers for workplace discrimination, and it was the first significant expansion of federal employment discrimination protections since the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Among its central changes, the act gave plaintiffs in discrimination cases the right to a jury trial and allowed them to recover compensatory and punitive damages, remedies that had not generally been available before. It also strengthened protections against sexual discrimination and harassment under Title VII of the earlier 1964 act.