Equal Employment Opportunity Laws - Essay Example

? Equal Employment Opportunity Laws Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policies and legislation ensure that all potential employees have equal access to available employment opportunities in the labor market. The EEO laws purposes are to ensure that workplaces are free from any form of discrimination forbidden by the US laws. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has the mandate to ensure that the federal government follows these EEO rules. The Office of the Civil Rights (OCR) ensures and administers compliance with the laws, guidance, and regulations that prohibits discrimination in the workplace (England, 2009). The federal laws prohibits job discrimination in the fields of payment based on sex, age discrimination, discrimination against people with disabilities, discrimination based on genetic information, race, ethnic, color, religion, sex or national origin (Bizmanualz, 2008). The EEOC provides coordination and oversight of all the EEO policies, regulations, and practices. The Equal Pay Act (EPA) enacted in 1963 protects all women and men working in the same work group, or establishment, from discrimination in wage rates based on sex of the worker. The minimum wage of Section 6 provides that no employee shall receive less pay than that of his or her colleagues of the opposite sex (Cook, 2009). The Congress passed the EPA as an amendment of the previous Fair Labor Standard Act in 1963. The EPA contains the regulations from the Fair Labor Standards Act, but with a concise statement and brief description of the problem that it covers. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, famously known as Title VII, prohibits discrimination of employees based on color, religion, sex, race, or national origin. It also covers discrimination against people associated with people of different religion, color, race, sex, or national origin. The law also prohibits the employees to retaliate an employee because they complained of discrimination at the workplace. Further, it requires the employer to accommodate the religious practices of the employees, unless a defense on Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications exists. Nevertheless, the exceptions to this law are rare. The Civil Rights enactment was under the presidency of John F. Kennedy. After his assassination, his Vice president Lyndon Johnson pushed for enactment of the bill terming saying that the country owed it to Kennedy’s life. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X became international figures as they were advocating for the enactment of the bill through Civil Rights Movements (Bizmanualz, 2008). Despite the enactment, both the Black and White communities engaged in protest, with the black claiming that it did not cover enough areas and the whites enraged with its passage. Regardless of the protests, the Act proved to be of great importance to the social and political development in America. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967 protects employees and job applicants aged 40 years and above from discrimination based on age. The discrimination may be in promotion, compensation, hiring, discharge, privileges, and conditions of employment. Other regulations that prohibit age discrimination at the workplace include The Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and Section 188 of Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998. The amended Americans with Disabilities (ADA) Act of 1990 recognize and protect the equal rights of Americans with disabilities. It is models after the act of discrimination against race and gender. The Act addresses the disability issues under five titles. Title I caters for access to workplaces for the disabled people, title II protects their access to Local and State services, title III centers around commercial facilities and places of accommodation, title IV contains requirements to telecommunications companies to provide relay services for the disabled people, and title V contains miscellaneous instructions to the agencies to enforce the law. Congress enacted the law with intentions of creating a permanent civil rights law protecting people with disabilities. President H. W. Bush signed it into law on July 26 1990. Later in September 2008, President W. Bush signed the amended ADA act into law. Sections 501 and 505 contained in The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended, illegalizes the discrimination of qualified persons with disability. The law prohibits discrimination of employment opportunities based on disability. The law also prohibits retaliation of an employee resulting from complains of discrimination, filing against the employer for discrimination, or their participation in an employment lawsuit or investigation. The law stipulates that the employer will reasonably accommodate the mental or physical limitations of a qualified disabled employee, unless the effects meet the Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications (Cook, 2009). The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 replaced the Vocational Rehabilitation Act by revising the authorization of grants to States for rehabilitation services. The enactment of the law was in September 26, 1973. Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA), Title II, illegalizes the discrimination of employment opportunities based on people’s genetic information. It prohibits employers to base their decisions a person’s genetic information when hiring, promoting, discharging, appraising, or any other decision that affects the employee. Enactment of Title II was in November 21, 2009. Title I prohibits discrimination based on genetic information in insurance coverage. The Civil rights Act of 1991 was an amendment of the Civil rights Act of 1964 by Congress. The amendment includes strengthening of the 1964 act, clarifying provision for disparate impact, and advocating for damage coverage in cases of discrimination in employment. This followed decisions of the Supreme Court on several cases, notably the Wards Cove Packing Company vs. Antonio (1989), and Price Waterhouse vs. Hopkins. The Act provides that an employer found guilty of intentional discrimination against an employee is liable to pay monetary damages to the employee. The 1991 act amended some of the statutes enforced by the EEOC (Walker & Miller, 2010). Under the 1964 Civil rights act, parties could only obtain jury hearing under cases concerning EPA and ADEA violation, but the 1991 Act enabled parties to access jury hearing in all discrimination cases and recover punitive damages and compensation in ADA and title VII. The Act set the maximum amount at 300,000 thousand dollars for large employers (an estimate of more than 500 workers). The 1991 Act also extended its nondiscriminatory policy to employees of the Congress and high-ranking appointees. It also extended the coverage of individuals to include American employers and American-controlled employers with their businesses abroad. The positive impact of these laws to the equality in employment is evident. In the current times, an organization may consist of a workforce rich of diversity in color, nations of origin, religion, ethnic group, and other classification. Discrimination has also reduced significantly compared to the past thirty years. The EEO laws provide Human Resource Management departments in an organization with the framework for developing human resource system that meet legal requirement and ensure that HRM decisions are legally defensible (Walker & Miller, 2010). Considering the ADA law, the HRM requires information on the provisions of the Act and guidance from EEOC. Obtaining the information will help the HRM department to redesign the organization’s policies so that they are comply with the with the EEO requirements. The implication also means that the HRM department should have a legal counsel for matter pertaining to disability accommodation. Hr professionals need to be cautious on matters concerning disabled persons. The impact of the ADEA law on HR revolves around the age limit of applicants and employees. Employees and applicants who have attained 40 years and above pass through careful scrutiny by the HR departments, taking keen measures not to violate their rights. This Act has influenced the age threshold for job applicants, trainee, and promotion candidates. The challenge of this Act to the HR professionals is to maintain an efficient workforce without forcefully retiring some of the older employees (Mathis & Jackson, 2011). Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII has an enormous impact on HRM departments. The Act requires HR professionals to have a keen look at their policies of recruiting, hiring, promoting, compensating, rewarding, and disciplining their employees (Gatewood, Feild & Barrick, 2011). The HR professionals have to design policies that are objective and systematic with considerations of the Act. References Bizmanualz. (2008). Human Resources Procedures for Employee Management. St. Louis: Bizmanualz Inc. Cook, M. F. (2007). The Complete Do-It-Yourself Human Resources Department. New York: Aspen Publishers, Inc. England, D. (2009). The Essential Guide to Handling Workplace Harassment & Discrimination. Berkeley, California: Nolo. Gatewood, R., Feild, H. S. & Barrick, M. (2011). Human Resource Selection. South-Western Cengage learning. Mathis, R. L. & Jackson, J. H. (2011). Human Resource Management. Mason: South-Western Cengage Learning. Mosley, D. C., Pietri, P. H. & Mosley, J. (2011). Supervisory Management. Mason: South Western Cengage learning. Walker, J. R. & Miller, J. M (2010). Supervision in the Hospitality Industry: Leading Human Resources. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Read More