The Pros And Cons Of Equal Employment Opportunity Laws

The full text of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) reads as follows, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex” (qtd. in Stewart 33). These twenty-four words would become some of the most controversial of the twentieth century. Under the nineteenth amendment, American women obtained the right to vote in 1920. This amendment inspired Alice Paul to draft the first ERA which she then introduced to the United States Congress in 1923. After this first proposal, the ERA would eventually be proposed in each succeeding session of Congress (Stewart 33). Despite its introduction every year for fifty years, the ERA did not accumulate a strong opposing force until after it

In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed and made discriminatory hiring practices illegal. There were three main points of this Act; equal opportunity, sexual harassment, and affirmative action. This Act required all human resources to comply with this law. The Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws protect individuals against discrimination

Over the last several decades, workplace issues have become an area of controversy for most employers. This is because the regulations surrounding what practices are considered to be discriminatory have increased dramatically. To enforce these issues, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) is playing a central role in making employers follow these provisions of the law. A recent example of this occurred, with the case EEOC v. HCS Medical Staffing Inc.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on : Race, Color, Sex, Religion, and National Origin with respect to employment. “Specifically, it states that it shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer” (Dressler, 2015, p. 28). “It established the concept of protected classes; those individuals who are protected from discrimination by the legal system. It prohibits discrimination in all employment practices. Title VII makes it unlawful to limit or classify employees in any way that deprives them of employment opportunities or hampers their career progression when that classification is based on their protected status” (SHRM). Title VII also established the EEOC Commission (EEOC) and applies to employers with 15 or more employees and most labor unions.

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).

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of 1965 (EEOC) was cited as a federal government agency to address discrimination. Federal government agencies must ensure equality among people in getting jobs without considering race, color, religion, sex, age or national origin. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids job discrimination on the ground of race, color,

An abundant of federal, state, and local regulations prohibit discrimination in employment. Discrimination towards employees who are members of a protected class is prohibited throughout the entire employment process, which includes outreach, hiring, job classification, salary, benefits, promotion, discipline, layoffs, termination, and much more. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal statute created to safeguard individuals from illegal discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, and national origin. This Act also established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commision (EEOC) which is responsible for administering laws outlawing discrimination in the workplace and has expanded protected classes against discrimination. Such

The alteration, which was conceived around the time that ladies were given the privilege to vote, was first presented in Congress in 1923.

The influential Phyllis Schlafly used her platform against the Equal Rights Amendment to emphasize that the possibility of having equal rights between men and women would be “destructive and antifamily”. Schlafly found the amendment to be disturbing when the ERA gained a strong support system for its adoption; nevertheless, she started the STOP ERA movement in order to stress the importance of having a traditional family in America. The primary purpose of the amendment was to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender in the United States (S&L 103). The support of this amendment was because women felt that they were being institutionally discriminated by the patriarchal dominance. The idea that women who were wives and mothers had to be supported by their husbands and work exclusively in their home was played out. Many women wanted to

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 was designed to protect workers from job discrimination. These employees are known as “protected class.” Under the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Opportunity Act of 1972 and 1991 provide for equal employment opportunity, in which everyone had the right to employment regardless of sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, or religion. The purpose of the Equal Opportunity Act was to make sure employees gained and kept employment based solely on their ability to perform their job (Schermerhorn, J. & Bachrach, D. 2015, p. 295).

To amend the constitution, various steps and procedures must be taken. When either Congress (which takes a two-thirds majority vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives), or a constitutional convention (which takes two-thirds of the State legislatures) want to propose an amendment, they give it to the National Archives and Records Administration. The Congress proposes the amendment as a joint resolution to the National Archives and Records Administrations Office of the Federal Register for the publication process. The Office of the Federal Register adds legislative notes to the joint resolution and publishes it in slip law format. The Office of the Federal Register also puts together an information package for the States

The Equal Protection Clause is part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause provides that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction "the equal protection of the laws". Two landmark 14th Amendment cases are Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education. However, each case treated the 14th Amendment differently and this caused a different outcome for each court case.

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

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.

Throughout the years the United States has faced many challenges with equal employment opportunities for everyone. The United States has developed The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, also known as the EEOC, to enforce laws that help prevent everyone from being treated unfairly when it comes to employment options. The EEOC has established stipulations and overlooks all of the federal equal employment opportunity regulations, practices and policies (“Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination Questions and Answers”). Some laws that have been passed are the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. Although some discrimination is still a problem, all of these