Chapter 03 – Providing Equal Employment Opportunity and a Safe Workplace
Chapter Three: Providing Equal
Employment Opportunity and a Safe
Workplace
Welcome to your guide to teaching Chapter Three, Providing Equal
Opportunity and a Safe Workplace!
This guide will provide you with a chapter summary, learning objectives, lecture outlines,
solutions to in-chapter case questions and end of chapter discussion questions and possible
responses.
Chapter Three Roadmap
We hope you find each chapter of your Instructor Manual practical and useful, but also,
exciting! You can adapt the chapter text, the PowerPoints, and the video to work in an online
class environment, a guided independent study environment, or a face to face or on-ground
environment.
When presenting Chapter Three, have the students first read the chapter and encourage
them to absorb the “big picture” of Equal Employment Opportunity and Workplace
Safety.
Use the PowerPoint for Chapter Three to frame your lecture.
Have students read and discuss the cases and their respective questions.
Have students validate their knowledge of the chapter by working through the discussion
questions at the end of the chapter.
Lastly, have students review, journal, or discuss the Key Vocabulary Terms at the end of
the chapter.
ROADMAP: THE LECTURE
Chapter Summary
This chapter provides an overview of the ways governmental bodies regulate equal employment
opportunity and workplace safety and health. It introduces major laws affecting employers in
these areas as well as the agencies charged with enforcing those laws. The chapter discusses
ways organizations can develop practices that ensure they are in compliance with the laws.
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Chapter 03 – Providing Equal Employment Opportunity and a Safe Workplace
This chapter will provide guidance on avoiding certain illegal or inadvisable practices. It
introduces ways to think more creatively and constructively about fair employment and
workplace safety.
Learning Objectives for Chapter Three
After reading and studying Chapter Three, students will be able to:
1. Explain how the three branches of government regulate human resource management.
2. Summarize the major federal laws requiring equal employment opportunity.
3. Identify the federal agencies that enforce equal employment opportunity and describe the
role of each.
4. Describe ways employers can avoid illegal discrimination and provide reasonable
accommodation.
5. Define sexual harassment and tell how employers can eliminate or minimize it.
6. Explain employers’ duties under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
7. Describe the role of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
8. Discuss ways employers promote worker safety and health.
9. Introduction
III. Equal Employment Opportunity
1. Among the most significant efforts to regulate human resource management are those
aimed at achieving equal employment opportunity (EEO). This is the condition in
which all individuals have an equal chance for employment, regardless of their race,
color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin.
2. The federal government’s efforts to create equal employment opportunity include:
a. Constitutional amendments
b. Legislation
c. Executive orders
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Chapter 03 – Providing Equal Employment Opportunity and a Safe Workplace
3. Table 3.1, Summary of Major EEO Laws and Regulations, summarizes some of the
major EEO laws discussed in this chapter.
A. Constitutional Amendments
1. Two amendments to the U.S. Constitution – the 13th and 14th – have implications
for human resource management.
2. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the U.S.
3. The 14th Amendment forbids the states from taking life, liberty, or property without
due process of law and prevents the states from denying equal protection of the
laws. An important point regarding the 14th Amendment is that it applies only to
the decisions or actions of the government or of private groups whose activities
are deemed government actions.
B. Legislation
1. Congress has passed laws designed to provide for equal opportunity and in later
years has passed additional laws that have extended EEO protection more
broadly.
2. Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1871: During Reconstruction, Congress passed
two Civil Rights Acts to further the 13th Amendment’s goal of abolishing slavery:
a. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 granted all persons the same property rights as
white citizens as well as the right to enter into and enforce contracts.
b. The Civil Rights Act of 1871 granted all citizens the right to sue in federal court
if they feel they have been deprived of some civil right.
3. Equal Pay Act of 1963: Under the Equal Pay Act of 1963, if men and women in
an organization are doing equal work, the employer must pay them equally. The
act defines equal in terms of skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions.
However the act allows for reasons why men and women performing the same job
might be paid differently. For instance, if the pay differences result from
differences in seniority, merit, quantity or quality of production, or any factor other
than sex, such as participating in a training program or working the night shift,
then the differences are legal.
4. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: The major law regulating equal
employment opportunity in the U.S. is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title
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Chapter 03 – Providing Equal Employment Opportunity and a Safe Workplace
VII directly resulted from the civil rights movement of the early 1960s, led by such
individuals as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
5. To ensure that employment opportunities would be based on character or ability
rather than race, Congress wrote and passed Title VII and President Lyndon
Johnson signed it into law in 1964. The law is enforced by the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission, which is an agency of the Department
of Justice.
6. Title VII prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals based on their
race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It applies to organizations that employ
15 or more persons working 20 or more weeks a year and that are involved in
interstate commerce as well as state and local governments, employment
agencies, and labor organizations.
7. Title VII also states that employers may not retaliate against employees for either
opposing a perceived illegal employment practice or participating in a proceeding
related to an alleged illegal employment practice.
8. Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA): One category of employees
not covered by Title VII consists of older workers. Older workers tend to be paid
more, so a company that wants to cut labor costs may save more by laying off its
oldest workers. To counter such discrimination, Congress in 1967, passed the
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), which prohibits discrimination
against workers over the age of 40.
9. Many firms have offered early-retirement incentives as an alternative or
supplement to involuntary layoffs. Early-retirement incentives require that
participating employees sign an agreement waiving their rights to sue under the
ADEA. Courts have tended to uphold the use of these incentives as long as the
individuals were not coerced into them. Also, these waivers must meet the basic
requirements of a contract, so the employer must offer something of value in
exchange for the employee giving up rights under the waiver.
10. One way to defend against age-related discrimination claims is to establish
performance-related criteria for layoffs, rather than salary-related criteria. The
EEOC recently sued a Michigan manufacturer for apparently manipulating its
layoff criteria in order to target the oldest engineers for layoffs.
11. Age discrimination complaints make up a large percentage of the complaints filed
with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and whenever the economy
is slow, the number of complaints grows.
12. Figure 3.1, Age Discrimination Complaints, 1997-2013, identifies the number
of cases concerning age discrimination complaints during the period 1997-2013.
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Chapter 03 – Providing Equal Employment Opportunity and a Safe Workplace
13. Another increase in age discrimination claims accompanied the economic
slowdown at the beginning of this decade.
14.In today’s environment where firms are seeking talented individuals to achieve the
company’s goals, older employees can be a tremendous pool of potential
resources.
15. Researchers have found that although muscle power tends to decline with age,
older workers tend to offer other important strengths, including conscientiousness
and interpersonal skills.
16.Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973: In 1973, Congress passed the
Vocational Rehabilitation Act to enhance employment opportunity for individuals
with disabilities. This act covers executive agencies and contractors and
subcontractors that receive more than $2,500 annually from the federal
government. These organizations must engage in affirmative action for
individuals with disabilities. Affirmative action is an organization’s active effort to
find opportunities to hire or promote people in a particular group. The Department
of Labor’s Employment Standards Administration enforces this act.
17.Vietnam Era Veteran’s Readjustment Act of 1974: This act requires federal
contractors and subcontractors to take affirmative action toward employing
veterans of the Vietnam War. The office of Federal Contract Compliance
Procedures has authority to enforce this act.
18. Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978: This act defines discrimination on the
basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition to be a form of illegal
sex discrimination. According to the EEOC, employers may not treat a female
applicant or employee “unfavorably because of pregnancy, childbirth, or a medical
condition related to pregnancy or childbirth.”
19. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990: This law protects individuals
with disabilities from being discriminated against in the workplace.
20. The ADA defines disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially
limits one or more major life activities, a record of having such an impairment, or
being regarded as having such an impairment.
21. Figure 3.2, Disabilities Associated with Complaints Filed Under ADA, shows
the types of disabilities associated with complaints filed under the ADA.
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Chapter 03 – Providing Equal Employment Opportunity and a Safe Workplace
22. The ADA goes beyond prohibiting discrimination to require that employers take
steps to accommodate individuals covered under the act.
23. Civil Rights Act of 1991: CRA 1991 amends Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964 as well as the CRA of 1866, the ADA, and the ADEA of 1967. This act
broadened the relief available to victims of discrimination.
24. Compensatory damages include such things as future monetary loss, emotional
pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life while punitive damages are a
punishment and are an attempt to discourage employers from discriminating.
25. Recognizing that one or a few discrimination cases could put an organization out
of business and so harm many innocent employees, Congress has limited the
amount of punitive damages.
26. As shown in Table 3.2, Maximum Punitive Damages Allowed Under the Civil
Rights Act of 1991, the amount of damages awarded depends on the size of the
organization charged with discrimination.
27. Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994:
Under this law, employers must reemploy workers who left jobs to fulfill military
duties for up to five years. Veterans with complaints under USERRA can obtain
assistance from the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service of the
Department of Labor.
28. Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 prohibits companies with
15 or more employees from using genetic information in making decisions about
hiring, promoting, or laying off workers.
C. Executive Orders
1. Two executive orders that directly affect human resource management are
Executive Order 11246, issued by Lyndon Johnson, and Executive Order 11478,
issued by Richard Nixon.
a. Executive Order 11246 prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from
discriminating based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. In addition,
employers whose contacts meet minimum size requirements must engage in
affirmative action to ensure against discrimination.
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Chapter 03 – Providing Equal Employment Opportunity and a Safe Workplace
b. Executive Order 11478 requires the federal government to base all its
employment policies on merit and fitness. It specifies that race, color, sex,
religion, and national origin may not be considered. Along with the
government, the act covers all contractors and subcontractors doing at least
$10,000 worth of business with the federal government.
IV. The Government’s Role in Providing for Equal Employment Opportunity
1. Equal employment opportunity requires that employers comply with EEO laws. The
executive branch of the federal government uses the Equal Employment Commission
and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Procedures to enforce those laws.
A. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
1. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for
enforcing most of the EEO laws including Title VII, the Equal Pay Act, and the
Americans with Disabilities Act.
2. The EEOC investigates and resolves complaints about discrimination, gathers
information, and issues guidelines. Figure 3.3, Types of Charges Filed With
the EEOC, illustrates the number of charges filed with the EEOC for different
types of discrimination.
3. When individuals believe they have been discriminated against the following can
take place:
a. They can file a complaint with the EEOC or a similar state agency.
b. The EEOC has 60 days to investigate the complaint.
c. If the EEOC either does not believe the complaint to be valid or fails to
complete the investigation within 60 days, the individual has the right to sue
in federal court.
d. If the EEOC determines that discrimination has taken place, it will attempt to
achieve reconciliation without a lawsuit. Sometimes it enters into a consent
decree with the discriminating organization. This decree is an agreement
between the agency and the organization for the organization to cease
certain discriminatory practices and possibly institute affirmative-action
practices to rectify its history of discrimination.
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Chapter 03 – Providing Equal Employment Opportunity and a Safe Workplace
e. If the settlement attempt fails, the EEOC has two options: issue a right to
sue letter to the alleged victim or aid the alleged victim in bringing suit in
federal court.
4. The EEOC also monitors organizations’ hiring practices. An Employer
Information Report (EEO-1) is required annually from organizations that are
government contractors or subcontractors or have 100 or more employees.
5. The EEOC issues guidelines designed to help employers determine when their
decisions violate the laws enforced by the EEOC.
6. The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures is a set of
guidelines issued by the EEOC and other government agencies to identify ways
an organization should develop and administer its system for selecting
employees so as not to violate Title VII.
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