Affirmative Action : A Part Of My Life

The Founding Fathers wanted all men to be treated equal. The Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson, 1776). Unfortunately, equality for everyone has not been truly realized. The main issues affected were people’s skin color and gender. Women and people of color were not considered to be equal for many years. To correct this issue Affirmative Action was implemented. Affirmative Action helped people of color and women to be considered for jobs and accepted into colleges equally among other candidates. Today, equality between races and genders has improved, although Affirmative Action should be modified to meet the needs of today’s society.

Human resource departments today have a more distinct, calculated position within organizations, and human resource strategy influences the bottom line. “One of the challenges for HR leaders is convincing executive leadership teams that human capital is one of the most important resources in which the company can invest” (Mayhew, 2014, p.). Subsequently, “this return on investment is an essential part of the argument for including HR as part of an overall business strategy” (Mayhew, 2014, p.). Human resource departments utilize the information given to them from company executives and leaders, coupled with their respective expertise on all things personnel, and they plan and implement staffing concerns for the betterment of the organization. From preparing job analysis, to comparing inventory and forecasting, it is the responsibility of human resources to consider the objectives of an organization and fulfill those goals while operating the specific planning relative to HR.

During the last part of this century, businesses and organizations have heavily relied on affirmative actions laws to ensure equal employment opportunities. The failure of this dependence upon legislation is that is doesn't address the full spectrum of diversity in the workplace (6). Affirmative actions laws have limitations, discriminating against people holding protected-class status such as women, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans,

EEO states which is that EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person 's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. These laws apply to all types of work situations, including hiring, firing, promotions, harassment, training, wages, and benefits.

Affirmative action is an in-company program designed to remedy current and future inequities in employment of minorities. EEO legislation was designed to protect minority groups of any definition from discrimination.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a “five-member body appointed by the President to establish equal employment opportunity policy under the laws it administers” (p. 827, Twomey & Jennings, 2014). The EEOC is “responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person 's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information” (Overview, EEOC, 2014). These federal laws include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended in 1972, 1978, and 1991, along with the Equal Pay Act (EPA), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

Legislation has reduced discrimination and open doors for minorities by putting in place EEO and AA these are programs both designed to promote social equity through different methods. Treating all individual in the employers communicate their commitments to EEO to prospective application in the form of an EEO policy statement. Legislation has put in place and policy that is referred to proactive efforts on the part of an employer to address the effects to past discrimination when the EEO efforts alone will not suffice. The most rent development in the challenge to achieve social equity is Diversity Management it's more distinct from AA and EEO in that its primary goals is to ensure that individual will work in harmoniously no matter what their

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 empowered minorities in many different ways, most notably in prohibiting discrimination in the workplace. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act expressly prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing, promotion, pay, benefits and other aspects of employment based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin (U.S. Department of Labor, 2012). This law was seen as a major boon to minorities and women in the workforce who had, for years, been subjected to unfair hiring and remuneration practices. But, in order to ensure that there was broad fairness and that employers were abiding by the new law, some steps needed to be taken. One way to monitor employers was to force them to have a certain number of minorities and women on their workforces at all times, greatly increasing the number of minority employees. These affirmative action laws, while still controversial today, have made a huge difference in the composition of our nation's workforce and in the lives of those who have been affected.

Since its existence, “the Commission has focused on but one simply stated mission: the elimination of illegal discrimination from the workplace” (EEOC, n.d.). Since 1964 the EEOC has been successful as the lead enforcement agency of workplace discrimination. Over the four decades that EEOC has existed, it has been a valued supporter for the group of people it was mainly created to serve. Those groups include all peoples of the nation, not limited to African-Americans alone, because discrimination can happen to anyone of any race, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, and of either sex.

The EEOC laws, or Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, are federal laws that enforce employers to not discriminate against applicants of any background. Discrimination by types such as age, disability, equal pay/compensation, genetic information, harassment, national origin, pregnancy, race/color, religion, retaliation, sex, and sexual harassment are all protected under the EEOC laws. It is also illegal for an employer to “discriminate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.” (EEOC , n.d.) The EEOC laws are to help serve justice and to create an equal work environment for people of any kind. The EEOC wants to accomplish the goal of having every applicant to feel at home without being discriminated against. These laws not only affect an employer hiring an applicant however; it affects them in firing, promoting, harassing, training, wages, and benefits. The EEOC’s role is to help find out if any applicant is being discriminated against and to help

The EEOC enforces discrimination laws dealing with situations such as job applications, the firing process, and promotions. The EEOC also applies to issues in the workplace dealing with harassment, training, wages, or benefits. The EEOC protects employees or potential employees against discrimination of race, sex, age, color, religion, and disabilities.

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws have helped shape the workforce today and they have greatly contributed to the introduction of diversity in the working environment. No longer are people rejected of employment based on their race, gender, age, or disability. The labor force has increased from 62 million people in 1950 to over 159 million people in the labor force today (Toolsi). The passing of the EEO laws proved to be a great advancement in the diversity of the workforce and treatment of employees, but it was a tremendous battle to get where we are today. Before the passing of these laws, unequal treatment was normal and discrimination was common among the majority of employers. This made acquiring employment difficult and caused many people to be unemployed. Three Equal Employment Opportunity laws that helped diminish these discriminatory practices were Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and the American with Disabilities Act of 1990. For each law, I will describe what it enforces and explain the actions that happened in society and the workplace that made these laws necessary. I will discuss important political figures that contributed to the passing of these laws. Lastly, I will examine how each law has improved human resources and has led to better management of employees overall.

Affirmative action in this time and place is a very hard area to keep in place when it comes to keeping jobs even at work for the employees. Sometimes this type of equality in the working world can be good and sometimes it can be bad, but it depends on how it is used that really makes how a person can feel when it comes to this type of treatment of employees no matter what color or sex a person is during this time period.

Affirmative action is one of the more recent and popular civil rights policies that affect today's society. Affirmative action can be described as nothing more than a lower educational standard for minorities. It has become quite clear that affirmative action is unfair and unjust. However, in order to blend race, culture, and genders to create a stable and diverse society, someone has to give. How can this be justified? Is there a firm right or wrong to affirmative action? Is this policy simply taking something from one person and giving it to someone else, or is there more to this policy, such as affirmative action being a reward for years of oppression against those whom it affects? There have been many

A company must administer Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) to those who apply, which means in no way should an employer base a candidates skill on their ethnic background, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or age. During the recruitment process, affirmative action policies make it a requirement that employers show initiative in hiring a diverse pool of applicants to fill positions available. We have a diverse pool of applicants that come and apply with my company. Most of the applicants will get hired regardless of their race, nationality or age, the best factor that prohibits one from getting hired on is language barrier.