Equal Employment Opportunity

Chapter 1: Introduction Definition:

A term used by the federal government to refer to employment practices that ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national origin, physical or mental ability, medical condition, ancestry, or age. The principle behind EEO is that everyone should have the same access to opportunities.

Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) means eliminating barriers to ensure that all employees are considered for the employment of their choice and has the chance to perform to their maximum potential. EEO practices include fairness at work, hiring based on merit and promotion based on talent. It concerns all aspects of employment including recruitment, pay and other rewards, career development and work conditions.

EEO strategies and sound HR practices enable employers to recruit the very best people from the diverse population, making the most of their skills, creativity and energy. Initiatives that encourage work-life balance are an important part of EEO as they enable people to perform to their full potential while still accommodating their commitments outside of work.

Granted enforcement powers to the equal employment opportunity commission. Equal employment opportunity commission (EEOC): The aim of the federal government empowered to handle discrimination in employment cases.

Reasons for committing to EEO An equal employment opportunity is a powerful way to increase business efficiency, competitiveness and profitability. By supporting EEO strategies that encourage merit-based management and people practices, organizations get the people they need to be successful.

EEO allows employees to develop in ways that respect their abilities and needs as individuals, and respects them as a critical strategic asset to the business.

An inclusive and tolerant workplace motivates employees to perform to the best of their ability. It promotes understanding between people creating a stronger and more focused team

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Objectives 1. Our study is aimed at the gathering of information regarding the equal employment opportunity and its comparative analysis between a public sector and a private sector. 2. another objective of our study it to analyze those practices that go beyond discontinuous of discriminatory practices. 3. Another objective of our study is to analyze the consequence of an employment practice that results in a greater rejection rate for a minority group than for the majority group in the occupation. 4. Another objective of our study is to analyze the situation where protected group members receive treatment different from other employees. 5. Our purpose is to analyze the potential discriminatory practices that what type of rules organization is following. 6. Our purpose is to study that are women reaching the top of the organization.

Affirmative action: A practice in organizations that goes beyond discontinuous of discriminatory practices to include actively seeking, hiring and promoting minority group members and women. Adverse impact: A consequence of an employment practice that results in a greater rejection rate for a minority group than for the majority group in the occupation. Adverse treatment: An employment situation where protected group members receive treatment different from other employees in matters such as performance evaluations and promotions.

What other laws affect discrimination practices? Age discrimination in employment act (ADEA) of 1967: This act prohibits arbitrary age discrimination particularly among those over age 40.

The age discrimination in employment act (ADEA) of 1967 prohibited the widespread practice of requiring workers to retire at age 65.it gave protected group status to individuals between the ages of 40 and 65.since 1967, this act has been amended twice once in 1978,which raised the mandatory retirement age to 70, and again in 1986 where the upper age limit was removed altogether. As a result anyone overage 39 is covered by the ADEA.Organizations with 20 or more employees, state and local governments, employment agencies, and labor organizations are covered by the ADEA. The pregnancy discrimination act of 1978: Law prohibiting discrimination based on pregnancy. The pregnancy discrimination act of 1978(supplemented by various state laws) prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy. Under the law companies may not terminate a female employee for being pregnant, refuse to make a positive employment decision based on one’s pregnancy or deny insurance coverage to the woman. The law also requires organizations to offer the employee a reasonable period of time off from work.

The Americans with disabilities act of 1990: Extends EEO coverage to include most forms of disability, requires employers to make reasonable accommodations d eliminates post job offer medical exams. Reasonable accommodation: Providing the necessary technology to enable affected individuals to do a job. The Americans with disabilities act of 1990 (ADA) extends employment protection to most forms of disability status, including those afflicted with AIDS. its important, however to recognize that ADA does not protect all forms of disability. For example, some psychiatric disabilities (like pyromania and kleptomania )may disqualify and individual from employment .and while some mental illness advocates have raised concerns, the EEOC and some courts have held that the employer not accountable in these special cases. In addition to the extended coverage, companies are further required to make reasonable accommodations to provide a qualified individual access to the job. A company may also be required to provide necessary technology so that an individual can do his/her job.

The family and medical leave Act of 1993. Federal legislation that provides employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leaves each year to care for family members, or for there own medical reasons. The family and medical leave Act of 1993 provides employees in organizations employees 50 or more workers within a 75 mile radius of the organization the opportunity to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a 12- month period for family matters (like child birth or adoption or for their own illness or to care for a sick family members) to be eligible for these benefits an employee must have worked for an employer for a total of 12 months (not necessary consecutively) and must have worked for the organization at least 1250 hours in the past 12 months . The organization however must notify an employee who requests the leave that he or she is consider an key employee and that although the employee will have an opportunity to return the same job, the organization cannot guarantee it.

Civil rights act of 1991: Employment discrimination law that nullified selected Supreme Court decisions, reinstated bourdon of proof by the employer, and allowed for punitive and compensator damaged through jury tails.

Determining potential discriminatory practices: The 4/5th rule: A rough indicator of discrimination this rule requires that the number of minority members a company hires must equal at least 80% of the majority members in the population hired. To see how 4/5th rule works, suppose we have two pools of applicants for jobs as management information system analysts. Our applicant’s backgrounds reflect the following: 40 applicants are classified in the majority and 15 applicants are classified minority population. After we test and interview, we hire 22 majority and 8 minority members. in this case we find that the company is compliance that is the ratio of minority to majority members is 80% or greater (the 4/5th rule ).accordingly even though fewer minority members were hired. No apparent discrimination has occurred. Remembers whenever the 4/5th rule is violated it indicates only that discrimination may have occurred. Restricted policy: A restricted policy in fraction occurred whenever enterprise HRM activities exclude a class of individual. for example assume a company is restricting and lying of an excessive number of employees over age 40.simultaneously however the company is recruiting for selected positions on college campuses only. Because of economic difficulties this company wants to keep salaries low by hiring people. Just entering the workforce. Those over age 39 who were making higher salaries are not given the opportunity to even apply for these new jobs. These actions may indicate a restricted policy. Geographical comparisons: A third mean of supporting discriminatory claims is through the use of Geographical comparisons. In this instance the characteristics of the potential qualified pool of applicants in an organizations hiring market are compared to the characteristics of its employees. If the organization has a proper mix of individual at all levels in the organization that reflects its recruiting market than the company is in compliance. Additionally the compliance may assists in fostering diversity in the organization. The key factor here is the qualified pool according to varying geographical areas. McDonnell –Douglas test: 1. This individual is a member of protected group. 2. The individual applied for a job for which he or she was qualified. 3. The individual was rejected. 4. The inter price after rejecting this applicants continued to seek other applicants with similar qualifications.

Are women reaching the top of the organizations? Comparable worth: Equal pay for jobs similar in skills responsibility working condition and efforts. Indicates past many jobs were formally viewed as being male or female oriented. For example position such as librarian, nurses and elementary school teachers were considered typical jobs for women. By contrast, police officers, truck drivers, and top management positions were regarded as the domain of men. Historically this attitude resulted in the traditional female oriented jobs paying significantly less than the male oriented position. This differentiation led to concerns over gender base pay system, commonly refers to as comparable worth issue. For instance a nurse may be judged to have a comparable job to that of a police officers. Both must be trained, both are licensed to practice, both work under stressful conditions, and both must exhibits high level of efforts. But they are not typically paid the same male dominated jobs have traditionally being paid more than female oriented jobs. Under comparable worth, estimates of the importance of each job are used in determining and equating pay structures. Glass ceiling: The invisible barrier that blocks female and minorities from ascending into upper levels of an organizations. The glass ceiling description reflects why women and minorities are not more widely represented at the top of today’s organizations. The glass ceiling is not however synonymous with “classic” discrimination. Rather according to the glass ceiling commission it indicates” instructional and psychological practices, and the limited advancement and mobility of men and women of diverse of racial and ethnic backgrounds.”