Equal Employment Opportunity: What it Means for Your Workplace

As an employer, navigating the myriad of federal and state regulations can be an incredibly complicated process. It’s vital to make sure your company is in compliance to avoid any penalties. In fact, nearly every company with more than 15 employees is obligated to follow a series of equal employment opportunity laws.

Equal employment opportunity laws prohibit certain types of discrimination commonly found in the workplace. An equal opportunity employer is one who does not use characteristics of race, gender, or any other prejudices to make employment decisions. We can all get behind the purpose of these laws, but ensuring your company is following the requirements isn’t always so simple.

The Goal of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The laws and regulations concerning equal opportunity employment are an important part of our current economic landscape. However, overlooking a requirement could severely hurt your company. In order to ensure you are not fined, punished, or sued, rigorously following any and all regulations is essential. This all starts with understanding the major components and principles of these laws.

Examples legislation relevant equal employment opportunity include:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

• Equal Pay Act

• Age Discrimination in Employment Act

• American with Disabilities Act

• Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act

• Family and Medical Leave Act

All of these pieces of legislation protect certain rights or certain individuals from being impugned upon or discriminated against by an employer. These laws created protected classes of individuals based on criteria including:

• Race

• Nationality

• Ethnicity

• Religious affiliation

• Age

• Gender

• Sexual orientation

• Physical or mental handicap

The laws boil down to making employment decisions based off their relevant qualifications. Every other factor is irrelevant as long as the applicant is capable of performing the job duties.

How to Ensure Your Workplace is EEOC Compliant

While there is a lot of legislation and regulation regarding equality of employment, ensuring your company is compliant is not that difficult. As long as you approach your employment decisions with an open and unbiased attitude, you’re unlikely to be considered discriminatory. The best way to remain compliant is to take a proactive approach. Be aware of the guidelines that your company must operate under. Build these into your existing processes and alter any that do not align. This can help ensure compliance and also keep your hiring and decision-making processes naturally unbiased.

If you feel overwhelmed by the equal employment opportunity requirements, then you are not alone. However, you do not need to be a highly competent lawyer to understand the basics of employment law. The EEOC website is full of documents to help you grasp what you have to do to create an unbiased hiring process and workplace environment.

Share any updates to your company’s EEO policy so that all managers and employees are in sync when it comes to these requirements. With the proper training, you can keep your workplace discrimination free by keeping your employees informed on how to do so. On top of this, make sure that all of your employment records are accurate and thorough. This can help if a complaint is ever filed against you.

Building a Diverse and Inclusive Company Culture

It’s actually rather simple to create a company culture that is diverse and inclusive. Doing so starts with making people feel welcome and accepted. A solid set of human resources guidelines can help maintain this culture. Also, ensure your guidelines and culture fall within those of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s.

With the proper guidance and genuine intentions, it’s easy to create a company culture which is fun, inclusive, and attractive to potential new hires. Regularly assess your hiring process and culture to maintain EEOC compliance as well as to keep employees happy and healthy. Doing these small things can keep your company out of serious legal trouble. Check out Training & eTracking Solutions management trainings and orientation courses to learn more!