EEOC Discrimination Charge Handling Process

As a marketing manager, you have recently turned down Nancy Conrad for a position as sales supervisor. Nancy believes the denial was due to her gender, and she has filed a sex discrimination charge with the EEOC. Explain the steps the EEOC will use to  process the charge; include Nancy's options during the process.

After having filed a complaint, the EEOC would begin investigations of the company. During the investigation the EEOC may ask the company to submit a statement of position, allowing the organization to defend itself and to state what they believe happened. The EEOC of course would also ask the harassed for their statement, as to try to find out what truly happened. From there the EEOC may conduct an on site visit  allowing them to expedite the fact finding process. They may also ask the organization to provide contact information for witness interviews. There the EEOC would conduct interviews with management personal and non management level employees, questioning them for any possible facts that may assist in the case.

After the investigation the EEOC would most likely do one of three actions, depending on the results gained from the investigation. The EEOC may determine that there was no reasonable cause the justify a claim of discrimination having occurred and would issue a Dismissal and Notice of rights that would inform Ms. Conrad that she had the right to file a lawsuit in federal court within 90 days from the date of the receipt of the letter. If the EEOC had determined that there was reasonable cause to believe discrimination has occurred  then both the organization and Ms. Conrad would receive a letter of determination that invites both parties to join the agency in finding a way to resolve the charges. The final option would involve the EEOC enforcing the violation of its statutes by filing a lawsuit in federal court.

EEO-1

The EEO-1 report is the annual Equal Opportunity Employer Information Report filed by government contractors with the federal government. This Report is known as the Standard Form 100, with the report detailing race, ethnic, and sex composition of an employer's workforce at the start of the calendar year or during the period between January 1st and March 31st of a year. The report collects information from organization that employ more than 100 employees and is required to be filled out. The purpose of this report is to report anonymous annual data about the number of women and minorities in each occupation category and subcategory. This information is used to enforce  the Civil Rights act of 1964, prohibiting employment discrimination based upon race, color, religion, national origin, and sex.

EEO Complaint

Joe Alvarez has filed a complaint with the EEO alleging that his employer, Universal Mortgage company  promotes more whites than Hispanics into managerial position. Explain the statistical methods used by the EEOC to investigate this adverse impact claim.

The easiest way to see if Universal Mortgage Company is discriminating against Hispanics would be to check both the employment history of the firm and the employment racial statistics of the Mortgage market, and to compare the two for any form of irregularities. If Alvarez is correct, the Universal Mortgage Company should have a significantly higher percentage of white individuals being hired than the market percentage of white individuals being hired.

Sexual Harassment Complaint

After receiving several complaints of sexual harassment, the HR department of a city library decided to establish a sexual harassment policy. What should be included in the policy? How should it be implemented?

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's guidelines certain key elements should be included within a sexual policy. These elements include a clear explanation of prohibited conduct, defining what could be considered as sexual harassment, and what the punishment of such acts would be. Organization must also assure that employees who make complaints or participate in an investigation of a complaint will be protected against retaliation as well as providing a clear description of the company's complaint process. Company's must also assure that employer will protect the confidentiality of complaints to the highest possible extent while also assuring that the employer will take immediate and appropriate corrective action when investigation determines that a harassment has occurred.

To implement these policies it would serve the company's best interest to train managers and employees on the procedure of the sexual harassment complaint process as well as providing ground rules that will assist employees avoid decided troubles.

Source:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/80140#

Future Feelings For Discrimination In The Work Place?

Within the past few decades Congress and U.S Politicians and business executives have taken an active role in combating discrimination within the workplace.  This, as well as the increasing tend for American citizens to take legal actions has lead to a significant decrease in discrimination in the modern workplace. It seems likely that this trend will continue for quite some time, with more proposals being made in government to protect the rights of citizen workers that they may come to believe have been unjustly treated in the workplace. If anything, this attention to discrimination may increase to the point where it has become a deterrence to the efficiency of the workplace, creating a gridlock due to intertwining policies and regulations that could hinder the abilities of certain business to maintain a high level of efficiency. This of course can be combated by an increase in the training of employees and managers within the work area, so that they know how to avoid such situations. The reason why these policies have become so effective is because of the constant legal presence that creates an atmosphere where these discriminant actions are both frowned upon and punished accordingly.Yes, while this continue-es increase in the awareness in workplace discrimination will lead to significant decreases in cases of discrimination, it will never truly eliminate it, either from the workplace or from the public world. The causes behind this are endless, whether it be from cultural shift and actions that affect a large percentage of the population, such as the September 11th terrorist attack, which lead to increasing aggressiveness and discrimination to citizens and workers of Middle Eastern decent, or from past discrimination that will continue to linger, such as the latent racism and sexism that certain individuals contain within themselves.

Historical Perspective of EEO Legislation

Equal Employment Opportunity legislation was influenced heavily by changing attitudes toward employment discriminations, with discriminant acts becoming more frowned upon as society grew, published reports that highlighted economic problems of those being discriminated against, allowing the general public to know of the consequences discrimination has had on individuals, and by a growing body of disparate laws and government regulations that directly dealt with discrimination in the work place.

One of the most publicly known events that influenced EEO legislation was the civil rights movements that reached its height around the 1950’s and 1960’s. During this time minorities made a stand against public discrimination, setting up marches, sit-ins, rallies and any other type of event that would lead to a further increase in the publicity gained by the movement. This fight against discrimination lead to significant increase in the support of the movement, with more of the population coming to know, and in many cases, sympathize with the rebelling minority groups.

Other events that influenced this legislation was a string of acts passed by congress from the late 1866’s to the early 1960’s, such as the Civil right act of 1866 which gave all people the right to full and equal benefits under the law. These acts helped create a foundation that assisted in the nurturing a care of minority workers and lead the beginning of the early efforts to push for a greater sense of equality. They also laid the ground work for the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Finally, on of the major stimuli to the creation of EEO legislation was the increasing public awareness of the continuously increasing difference in economic status between white and minority working class citizens, which lead to a further increase in the sympathizing of those, being discriminated against.

Government Regulation of Equal Employment Opportunity

EEO legislation has multiple laws that affect, help regulate, and help diminish discrimination in the work place such as the Americans with disabilities act of 1990 or the Pregnancy discrimination act of 1978, which assist minority groups deal with discrimination at work.

            The Equal Pay Act of 1962 for example makes it illegal for organizations to alter the pay, benefits and pensions of an employee simply because of their gender. This prevents employers from paying one gender more than another for “equal” jobs. However, employers can bypass this law if they follow a seniority, merit, or quantity/quality system of production. This however must be because of said system, not because of a particular employee’s gender.

            Another act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 discourages discrimination based on age. Under this act it is prohibited for employers from discriminating against people age 40 or older in any area of employment.

            The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 increased the coverage created in the Civil rights Act of 1964 to the point where I encompassed state and local government as well as public and private educational institutions.  This act also increases the government’s ability to enforce the power of the Equal Employee Opportunities Commission by allowing the agency to take employers to court.

            Another law, one which was mentioned earlier, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 provide protection for those with mental or physical disabilities. This act mandates that employers must make reasonable accommodation the needs of their disabled employees, such as providing ramps for those in wheelchairs, or to maintain a safe environment for their more unfortunate workers.

            Finally the Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 was passed to assist those who have entered the military for short periods of service. This act protects against discrimination just because of their military obligation. This act also requires that employers make reasonable efforts to accommodate serving individuals, while the individual in question is required to provide their employers with an advanced notice of their military obligations and possible leaves.