• Understand what the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission does
• Summarize key anti-discrimination legislation
• Summarize key labor and safely legislation

Employment Discrimination

Equal opportunity is one of our nation’s core values and should be a core policy of any organization. What happens when businesses make decisions that violate laws and regulations designed to protect working Americans? As a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) training manual emphasizes: “Discrimination cost employers millions of dollars every year, not to mention the countless hours of lost work time, employee stress and the negative public image that goes along with a discrimination lawsuit.”

What Discrimination Can Look Like

• A worker who had no job performance issues, disclosed to their employer that they had a panic attack outside of work and had been prescribed medication. Even though the worker had no job performance issues and the medical condition did not affect their ability to perform their dispatcher role, their supervisor requested that they be terminated. The employer, Pivotal Home Solutions, a home warranty company based in Illinois, agreed to pay $175,000 to settle the claim of disability discrimination.^[1]
• Ford Motor Company gave an offer of employment to an applicant as long as she could pass a physical, drug test, and background test. Although she passed all the tests and was cleared to start work, she disclosed during her physical that she was pregnant. Ford did not schedule her for work and did not respond to her repeated phone calls. Eventually Ford agreed to pay $115,000 to resolve this pregnancy discrimination case.^[2]
• A United Airlines pilot was diagnosed with alcohol dependency. As part of the process to become re-certified, United required regular attendance of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings. The pilot, who is Buddhist, objected to the religious content of AA and requested that he be permitted to attend a Buddhism-based support group instead but United would not permit the substitution. United settled this instance of religious discrimination by paying $305,000.^[3]

In other cases, the monetary damages may be minimal, but the reputation of the business as a “great place to work” becomes tarnished. When a business’ reputation is damaged, HR professionals have a more difficult time recruiting and retaining quality employees. Businesses that disregard worker protections may find themselves on a list of “worst places to work.” Such is the case with the retail clothing store Forever 21 for carrying out time-consuming and intrusive bag checks on its employees after their shifts ended and failing to pay overtime.^[4]

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Equal employment opportunity isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the law. Federal employment discrimination laws and regulations are enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), an agency established by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). The agency’s mission is to stop and remedy unlawful employment discrimination. Specifically, the EEOC is charged with “enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.”^[5] Since its creation in 1964, Congress has gradually expanded EEOC powers to include the authority to investigate claims, negotiate settlements and file lawsuits. The agency also conducts outreach and educational programs in an effort to prevent discrimination. Finally, the EEOC provides equal employment opportunity advisory services and technical support to federal agencies.

State Laws and Agencies

Note that while the EEOC enforces federal anti-discrimination laws, many states have also passed their own statutes identifying unlawful employment practices and have their own corresponding state agencies that do enforcement and education. For example, in California, their Civil Rights Department is charged with enforcing laws regarding unlawful discrimination, and the Civil Rights Division in Texas serves a similar purpose.

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