Paul should place a great deal of his attention to the laws and regulations of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the United States Department of Labor (DOL), and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program (OFCCP). The EEOC is in place at all businesses that employ workers; it ensures that all employees are treated equally and fairly in employment opportunities. Employees are protected against sexual harassment, race discrimination, age discrimination, disability discrimination, nation origin discrimination, and pregnancy discrimination. The DOL provides information to the employer based on unemployment and employment statistics based on wage, earnings, and benefits. The DOL provides information in regards to job requirements and training on discrimination, hiring applicants, and other employment concerns. The DOL also makes employers aware wages and hours to work that are required by the rules and regulations of the government. The purpose of the DOL is to help the employer remains in compliance with government laws, rules, and regulations. The purpose of the OFCCP is to guarantee that employment regulations are being followed for contractors and subcontractors. It assures the benefit of those seeking employment and employees are allowed affirmative actions, equal employment opportunity required by the government.
Paul should also become familiar with the Civil Rights Act. The Civil Rights Act, Title VII sates that, “It is illegal for an employer to refuse to hire or discharge an individual or discriminate against any individual due to his or her compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment based on an individual’s race, color, religion, gender, nation origin, or disability. It is also illegal for an employer to limit, segregate, or classify employees or applicants for employment and in any way deprive him or her from employment opportunity” (Mathis, R., Jackson, J., & Valentine, S. 2014. p. 78 ). The Civil Rights Act was modified by the EEOC to provided better discrimination protection to employees or applicants. The modified section of the Civil Rights Action informs employees and applications that if they feel they have been discriminated against in any way; that if a claim is filed with the EEOC, there has to be adequate proof of the allegations. An employer is not allowed to base their employment decision based on an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, disability, or national origin. When showing any type of discrimination against an employee or applicant of any sort, the company could risk paying a lot of money to the person discriminated against as well as other fees that is determined based on company size. The company must maintain an Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) at all times and made available to managers and supervisors to review at any given time. This document is written and must be maintained by the employer and is clearly enforced, the document is audited by the OFCCP occasionally to certify the company is in compliance. The purpose of the Affirmative Action is to compensate previous individuals who discriminated against women, minorities, and disabled individuals. Paul should place a large focus on all of these areas because this could cause Plastec Company to have to pay a lot of money to the courts, government, and those being discriminated against. Discrimination appears to be a large number that is reported and filed with the EEOC. The management at Plastec has to keep in mind that discrimination can occur in many ways and to anyone; and that it is against the law. John has already violated the law because an employee reported an incident to him that was discriminatory; but it is not notated anywhere other than through memory. The act was that the employees were making jokes in regards to color and innuendos, which made some of the workers very uncomfortable. Even though John was not aware of this being discrimination; these actions are against the law