A Useful Guide for Enforcement Policies from the EEOC
You don’t have to intentionally discriminate against employees and job applicants to get yourself in hot water with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Practices that have a discriminatory impact, or even hint at inadvertent discrimination, can drag you into considerable expense and aggravation defending your company. The EEOC has recently spelled out its enforcement areas of special focus for the next four years. The list can help you prioritize your own review of employment practices that might put you in the EEOC’s cross-hairs. Continue Reading …
A Useful Guide for Enforcement Policies from the EEOC
he EEOC laid out its enforcement game plan in a detailed announcement last month. “What leaps off the page,” says Fisher & Philips partner Randy Coffey, “is that the EEOC is going to be expanding its efforts and is re-energized for the second term of the Obama Administration.” While cases brought against large employers often make a big splash in the news media, that should not lull small employers into thinking they can fly under the EEOC’s radar.
Cases are generally brought to the EEOC by employees, former employees and rejected job applications who believe they are discrimination victims.
Sometimes such employees are recruited by attorneys sniffing out litigation opportunities. Filing a complaint is not an onerous task.
If the EEOC investigates the complaint and concludes that a particular employment practice pattern would allow the Commission to make an example out of the company involved and thus deter the discriminatory practice more broadly), it will do so.
Inadvertent Discrimination
How might you inadvertently trigger an EEOC complaint? Coffey offers some illustrations. Under the heading of barriers in recruitment and hiring, a practice “that would tend to suggest that particular individuals are being channeled into particular jobs” would be a big red flag. Example: Hispanic job applicants who come to a company inquiring about any job openings are encouraged to apply for positions in the maintenance department, without apparent consideration of other jobs for which they might qualify
