EEO Context of HR practice

1
EEO Context of HR practice

• EEO equal employment opportunity
• Not really what it means though
• It means Dont discriminate on these particular
  things

2
Early Context

• Constitutional Republic
• Constitution Federal government regulates
  commerce among the several states
• Also 1st, 4th, 5th, 11th amendments restrains
  federal government

3
Early Context part 2

• Republic founded with emphasis on private
  property rights
• Employment-at-will doctrine a property owner
  may use her/his property as s/he sees fit
• People who are employed in that context serve at
  the will of the employer may be hired and/or
  fired for any reason, or no reason at all

4
Early Context part 2 still

• Employment at Will reciprocal between employer
  and employee
• Three erosions on Employment at will doctrine
• Competitive market pressures
• Written contracts voluntarily entered
• Civil Rights Protections

5
Civil Right Acts

• 1866, 1964 Civil Rights Acts
• Early CRA became 13th , 14th amendments
• Lack of social progress regarding integration in
  post-slavery era
• 1964 CRA drives much of current practice

6
War-time social justice issues

• Contributions by African heritage and female
  citizens to war efforts in WW-I and WW- II
• Truman executive order after WW-II finally orders
  desegregation of US military
• Separate but equal doctrine struck down in
  Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

7
Civil Rights Act 1964

• Title VII covers employment practices
• Protected characteristics race, color, religion,
  sex, national origin
• Virtually every employment decision covered
• Not all organizations covered excluded are
  small employers (less than 15), Indian nations,
  religious organizations, political offices

8
Two pairs of Federal Laws

• Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
• Older Workers Protection Act of 1990
• Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

9
Age Discrimination in Employment Act 1967

• Cover firms of 20 or more employees
• Covers workers 40 years old
• Original upper limit of coverage (age 65) was
  phased out
• No affirmative action requirement
• Coverage for states was modified through case law

10
Americans with Disabilities Act 1990

• Affects many aspects of public life
• Huge untapped pool of talented Americans
• Unemployment rates 70
• Defining Disability (firms 15 employees
  covered)
• Physical or mental impairment that substantially
  limits one or more major life activities
• A record of such impairment
• Being regarded as having such an impairment

11
ADA 1990

• Screening, with or without Reasonable
  Accommodation
• Sexual orientation not part of law
• AIDS-Related Cases
• Obesity
• Genetic Discrimination
• Courts have affected state coverage here also
• Courts have also narrowed disability definition

12
Two Book-end CRA cases

• Griggs v Duke Power 1971
• Griggs and others sued for race discrimination
• Case defined adverse impact
• Case also defined shifting burden of proof
• Use of statistical information to prove illegal
  discrimination

13
Second CRA bookend case

• Wards Cove v Atonio 1989
• Atonio and others sued for race discrimination
• Used statistical data to prove point
• Court reversed standard, requiring more than
  statistical data to make prima facie case
• Also reversed shifting burden of proof, requiring
  plaintiff to prove guilt
• Lead to CRA revisions in 1991