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Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
All employers are required to display certain Federal and State
Labor posters within their organizations. These posters are required
to be displayed prominently so that job applicants and employees
can easily and readily see them. They should also have similar
statements in their policy/procedure manuals and employee handbooks.
The
required federal posters include the following:
- The Federal Minimum Wage Poster
- Employee Polygraph Protection Act
Poster
- Your Rights Under USERRA
- Job Safety and Health – OSHA
- Employee Rights and Responsibilities
Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
- Equal Employment Opportunity
is the Law Poster
Each State has its own set of required posters. For South Carolina
the mandated posters include the following:
- S.C. Labor Law Abstract
- Safety and Health Protection on the Job
- Workers Compensation Compliance
Poster
- Unemployment Insurance Poster
- Your Rights as a Worker in South
Carolina
- Employment Discrimination Poster
I would like to take just a minute and focus this discussion on
two of these mandated posters which essentially say the same thing.
The Federal Equal Employment Opportunity poster and the South Carolina
Employment Discrimination poster both state that it is illegal
to discriminate against anyone on the basis of that individual’s
race, sex, age, religion, color, national origin or disability.
The federal poster also includes genetics and retaliation. Each
of these discriminatory prohibitions is backed up by specific Federal
or State laws.
In December of 2015, the EEOC issued its own agency
policy statement on discrimination. In that release the EEOC said
the following: "EEOC
employees and applicants for employment are protected by federal
laws, Presidential Executive Orders, and state and local laws designed
to protect federal employees and job applicants from discrimination
on the basis of race, religion, color, sex (including pregnancy, gender
identity and sexual orientation), parental status, national
origin, age, disability, family medical history or genetic information,
political affiliation, military service or other non-merit based
factors"
It is easy to see that the EEOC has added several
factors into the discrimination equation which have no basis in
established law.
On March 1, 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) issued a press release announcing that it had
filed its first two sexual orientation discrimination claims against
private sector employers. Each of these lawsuits alleges violations
of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC’s
theory is that since Title VII prohibits discrimination and retaliation
because of an individual’s sex – harassment or retaliation
because of an individual’s sexual orientation is also unlawful.
Employers
should note that the filing of these lawsuits alone will likely
trigger increased litigation in this area. In fiscal year 2015,
the EEOC received 1,412 charges alleging sexual orientation or
gender identity discrimination.
A company’s best defense against
the potential expense and aggravation related to federal or state
law violations is to proactively review and revise as needed their
Human Resources policies, handbooks, hiring procedures, compensation,
benefits, training programs, communications tools and other functions.
The professionals of PHHR are ready to assist your organization
maintain compliance with the latest state and federal mandates.
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Paul Hilton is a certified Human Resources Consultant, located in
Columbia, SC.
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