Equal Employment Opportunity and Employee Rights Review
Tracy England, Jillian Newes, and Patrick York
HRM/300
6/2/2015
Gary Woodlin
Equal Employment Opportunity and Employee Rights Review

Equal employment opportunity and employee rights are very important topics for Human Resource Management to stay current on. With the constant changes in technology, globalization, and productivity some individuals find themselves at a disadvantage to retain employment. Individuals have specific rights and this paper will address some of the rights, laws, and issues concerning the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1978, and Employee Monitoring.
Laws and Issues
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was set up to protect individuals with disabilities from being discriminated through an employer. The specific definition of an individual with a disability to qualify under this act is a person having a mental or physical impairment. The individual must also have substantial limitations in one or more major life activities (DeCenzo & Robbins, 2013). This act does not cover an individual that uses illegal drugs. However, if the individual has been to a supervised drug rehabilitation program and is no longer using drugs, then they can be included in this act as having a disability. There are other aspects that an individual will not be covered for by this act, and that is certain medical conditions such as high blood pressure and poor eyesight. A key aspect of this act is individuals must only need reasonable accommodations to perform their job and must still meet the requirements of the position. For example if a CPA exam is needed then the individual needs to pass that exam (DeCenzo & Robbins, 2013).
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1978
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1978 was established so that workers did not have to stop working at the age of 65 and to protect individuals between the ages of 40 and 65 from losing their jobs and benefits. By 1986, this act was amended to raise the retirement age to 70 years of age and to eliminate the top age completely (DeCenzo & Robbins, 2013). With this act, it helps protect the older generation from being the ones laid off from work and from being hired on by looking at the age and not looking at their skills and abilities.
Employee Monitoring
Employee monitoring can range from monitoring an employee’s computer usage to monitoring the way an employee is performing the tasks given to them. Along with employee monitoring, workplace security comes into play, which is to protect the employee’s property and productivity (DeCenzo & Robbins, 2013). The key factor to employee monitoring is the fact that the employers need to provide something in writing that states that the organization will be monitoring their usage of company equipment. This would include the usage of the internet and emails while an employee is at work.
Court Cases
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1978
In August of 2013 AT&T settled when they were sued by Terry Pierce for firing her for her age. The settlement was announced by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which sued the company in U.S. District Court in Kansas City. According to Pierce, AT&T fired her because of her age in the fall of 2008. Pierce had worked for the company for 16 years and was 53 when they let her go. At the same time, AT&T was retaining younger, lower-performing sales coach managers or allowing them to transfer. This behavior violates the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1978 (The Kansas City Star, 2013).
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1978
In Sutton v. United Airlines, Karen Sutton and Kimberly Hinton, who are identical twins, suffer from acute visual myopia. After United Airlines denied employment to be commercial airline pilots because their uncorrected vision was worse than 20/100, they