Breanna Johnson
Gwynedd Mercy University
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

On March 6th, 1961, President John F Kennedy signed an executive order that required government contractors to take affirmative action to ensure applicants are employed and that employees are treated during the employment without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin. This then established the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. The EEOC was established on July 2, 1965 in which it is mandated specifically under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This Act prohibits discrimination in hiring, promotion, discharge, pay, fringe benefits, and other aspects of employment, on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 which protects applicants and employees 40 years of age or older from discrimination on the basis of age in hiring, promotion, discharge, compensation, terms, conditions or privilege of employment. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which protects the Civil Right of persons with disabilities. The Americans with Disability Act of 1990 protects qualified applicants and employees with disabilities from discrimination in hiring, promotion, discharge, pay, job training, fringe benefits, classification, referral, and other aspects of employment on the basis of disability. This law also requires that covered entities provide qualified applicants and employees with disabilities with reasonable accommodations that do not impose undue hardship. Finally the ADA Amendment Act of 2008 which is also another nondiscrimination law made for persons with a disability. This Act made changes to the definition of the term ‘disability’, clarifying and broadening the definition. Retaliation against a person ho files a charge of discrimination, participates in an investigations, or opposes an unlawful employment practice is prohibited by all of these Federal Laws.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, also known as EEOC, is a federal law enforcement agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination. Discrimination complaints that are made based off of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, genetic information, retaliation for reporting, participating in, and/or opposing a discriminatory practice are investigated by the EEOC. ‘Sex-Sterotyping’ of lesbian, gay, and bi sexual individuals was added as a form of sex discrimination in 2011. In 2012, the Commission also added expanded protection against the transgender statue and gender identity.
One a file is received, the EEOC will start an investigation. All required information has to be provided to the Committee from the petitioner and the respondent. The EEOC adopted a policy that addresses situations where respondents have been uncooperative in providing information during an investigation of a charge. Under this policy, if a respondent fails to turn over requested information, field offices are to subpoena the information. This is known as the Investigative Compliance Policy.
The first step of the investigation is to meet with an EEO Counselor. That meeting will be conducted at the organization where you work or where you applied. Usually, you have to contact the EEO Counselor within 45 days from the day the discrimination occurred. In most cases the EEO Counselor will give you an option to participate in an EEO counseling program (Something like a mediation) to settle the dispute or if you do not settle the dispute you can file a discrimination complaint against the agency within 15days. Once you have filed a formal complaint, the agency will review the complaint and decide whether or not the case should be dismissed for procedural reason. Example of that would be filling your claim to late. If your agency doesn’t dismiss your complaint, they will then conduct an investigation. The agency has 180 days from the day you filed your complaint to finish the