Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Employment Opportunity
and Affirmative Action
Discrimination
The unjust or prejudicial treatment of different
categories of people or things, especially on the
grounds of race, age, or sex.
Types of discrimination
• age
• being or becoming a transsexual person
• being married or in a civil partnership
• being pregnant or on maternity leave
• disability
• race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
• religion, belief or lack of religion/belief
• sex
• sexual orientation
What is Equal Employment
Opportunity and Affirmative
Action?
Equal employment opportunity
(EEO)
Is the freedom from discrimination on the basis of
protected classes such as race, color, sex, national
origin, religion, age, disability or genetic information.
Equal employment opportunity
is an employment practice where employers do not engage in employment activities
that are prohibited by law. It is illegal for employers to discriminate against an applicant
or employee on the basis of:
Race
Age
Color
Sex
Religion
National origin
Policy Objective
The overall policy objective for the employment discrimination
laws we will be examining is summed up by the phrase equal
opportunity. These laws generally do not aim to create equal
outcomes, but rather seek to ensure that all employees or job
applicants have an equal opportunity to engage in the
employment market. In other words, these laws try to level 'the
playing field' so that certain classes of people who have been
discriminated against in the past are not subjected to adverse
treatment based upon certain characteristics that have nothing
to do with being a qualified job applicant or employee.
Anti-Discrimination Employment Laws
Now, we're going to look at the laws that were set up to stop discrimination in the
workplace.
Modern anti-discrimination employment laws and policies in the United States have
their foundation in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the act makes certain
discriminatory practices illegal, including discrimination based on race, color,
religion, sex, or national origin. Title VII applies to private employers employing 15 or
more employees, labor unions, and employment agencies. The Civil Rights Act also
helped create the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is charged
with the enforcement of the federal anti-discrimination employment laws.
Title VII protects employees or applicants from discrimination in the many
employment activities, including:
Recruitment
Hiring
Promotion
Compensation
Benefits
Training
Other employment terms, conditions and privileges
Harassment
Retaliation, which is adverse action taken because an applicant or employee
asserted rights under Title VII or participated in an EEOC proceeding, such as
testifying and assisting
Segregation and classification
Pre-employment inquiries and requirements, which means nothing should be
required that tends to disclose a characteristic protected under Title VII
Religious practices that don't impose an undue hardship on an employer
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is a policy in which an individual's color,
race, sex, religion or national origin are taken into account by
a business or the government in order to increase the
opportunities provided to an underrepresented part of
society. Affirmative action is designed to increase the number
of people from certain groups within businesses, institutions
and other areas of society in which they have historically had
low representation. It is often considered a means of
countering historical discrimination against a particular group.
BREAKING DOWN 'Affirmative Action‘