The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has released its final Strategic Enforcement Plan. Here’s a brief look at the issues the agency will be targeting in the future.

The final version of the SEP is slightly modified from the draft plan the agency released last fall. A look at the priorities laid out in the final plan, which covers the years 2013-2016:

  1. Eliminating Barriers in Recruitment and Hiring. The EEOC will target class-based intentional recruitment and hiring discrimination and facially neutral recruitment and hiring practices that adversely impact particular groups.
    Racial, ethnic, and religious groups, older workers, women, and people with disabilities continue to confront discriminatory policies and practices at the recruitment and hiring stages, the agency maintains.  These include exclusionary policies and practices, the channeling/steering of individuals into specific jobs due to their status in a particular group, restrictive application processes, and the use of screening tools.
  2. Protecting Immigrant, Migrant and Other Vulnerable Workers. The EEOC will target disparate pay, job segregation, harassment, trafficking and other discriminatory practices and policies affecting immigrant, migrant and other vulnerable workers, who are often unaware of their rights under the equal employment laws, or reluctant or unable to exercise them.
  3. Addressing Emerging and Developing Issues. As a government agency, the EEOC is responsible for monitoring trends and developments in the law, workplace practices, and labor force demographics. The EEOC will continue to prioritize issues that may be emerging or developing.
    The agency identified some specific issues that are “emerging”:

    • ADA issues such as reasonable accommodation, qualification standards, and undue hardship
    • accommodating pregnancy-related limitations under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and
    • coverage of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals under Title VII’s sex discrimination provisions, as they may apply.
  4. Enforcing Equal Pay Laws. The EEOC will target compensation systems and practices that discriminate based on gender.
  5. Preserving Access to the Legal System. The EEOC will also target policies and practices that discourage or prohibit individuals from exercising their rights under employment discrimination statutes, or which impede the EEOC’s investigative or enforcement efforts.
  6. Preventing Harassment Through Systemic Enforcement and Targeted Outreach. Harassment is one of the most frequent complaints raised in the workplace.
    Harassment claims based on race, ethnicity, religion, age and disability combined significantly outnumber even sexual harassment claims in the private and public sectors.

The post EEOC unveils its plan of attack for 2013 and beyond appeared first on HR Morning.

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