New EEOC Discrimination Task Force

March 19th, 2010 Posted by Jolie

Employers need to be more vigilant in hiring and promotions than ever before. That’s because a new EEOC task force has increased enforcement actions against employers who lack diversity in their workforce, calling such situations “systemic discrimination.” The agency may initiate investigations, even in the absence of an employee complaint.

 

Similar efforts against federal contractors have been introduced by the OFCCP or Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

 

To cite just two examples, the EEOC recently announced a $2 million settlement with Les Schwab Tire Centers in a sex discrimination case. The company was accused of not hiring qualified females for its auto care stores in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, Montana and Utah since 2004.

 

In a separate case, Wal-Mart paid $11.7 million to settle a sex discrimination case involving applicants for warehouse jobs in the London, Kentucky distribution center. Hiring officials with the retail giant told female applicants that the positions were not suitable for women, and that most new hires were men between 18 and 25 years of age.

 

The EEOC defends the actions, saying they are more likely to impact a larger number of employees, rather than just investigating one incident.

 

This means that a single discrimination complaint by one employee or job candidate could result in a widespread investigation that examines every hiring or promotion decision over several years.

 

Employers need to maintain clear records of the objective reasons for hiring, promotions, lay offs and terminations.

 

 

In the past, each EEOC regional office handled its own cases, with little communication between them. With this change in priorities, however, better information flow means that if the agency receives a complaint from an employee in one state, they will investigate the company’s operations in other states as well.

 

The change in priorities has been supported because federal agencies including the EEOC have invested in computers and additional technology that makes it easy for them to share information and identify areas of concern. Many of these cases involve discrimination against individuals with disabilities, as well as claims of illegal discrimination based on age, race, color, religion, sex or pregnancy.

 

Employers should have data on the diversity of the workforce, broken down by job title. If there are not enough minority employees in certain positions, the employer should take a pro-active approach to recruiting them.

 

The EEOC has already put these tactics into action against major companies with operations across the nation, such as Wal-Mart, Walgreens and Target.

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  1. Posted by: deb

    Due to having a history with the EEOC officer in my building my employer loves to harass me in anyway he can.I was recently suspended “indefinitely” - since I am unfamiliar with this term, what exactly does this mean? Am I still considered an employee or what?What about the health insurance is it still in effect? No one bothered explaining this to me.I am employed with a town in Massachusetts.No union.Thank you.
    deb

  2. Posted by: Amelia

    Hi deb! First of all, let’s address the employer’s personal history with the EEOC officer in your building. This does not mean that the employer can ignore federal law, or just do whatever he wants. The EEOC is a federal agency with offices in every state. If you feel the laws against discrimination and retaliation are not beign enforced, you should file a complaint with the EEOC at http://www.eeoc.gov. Be sure to mention that you cannot go to the EEOC compliance officer in your building, because he or she shows favoritism towards this employer. (BTW, it is very unusual for the federal EEOC to station a compliance officer in a private business. Our best guess is that this person is an employee of the business, with the title of “EEOC Compliance Officer” and not affiliated with the federal EEOC in any way.)

    “Indefinitely” simply means for no definite period of time. An employee can be suspended for three days, or for two weeks — those are definite suspensions because you know the day they will end. An “indefinite” suspension means it lasts as long as the employer wants it to — maybe one day, maybe one year. In this case, the employer seems to be using the suspension as a way to avoid firing you, but also avoid having you work. This may be illegal discrimination or illegal retaliation, depending upon why you were suspended.

    Technically, yes, you are still an employee because you have not been terminated. However, if this goes on more than one week, you should apply for unemployment benefits, since you are not being given any hours at work.

    Our best guess is that your health insurance is still in effect. At some point, if you do not work for a month or more, the company will have to offer you COBRA or mini-COBRA, meaning you will be entitled to continue your group health insurance coverage, although it may be at a higher cost. HTH, and thanks for reading the blogs!~ Amelia

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