Charles Jerome Ware, Attorneys & Counselors, LLC, is Maryland's premier equal employment opportunity (EEO) corporate compliance law firm. The firm is Maryland-based, national in scope, and well-respected for its valuable and successful work in this discrimination arena. For an initial courtesy consultation, contact the firm at charlesjeromeware@msn.com, (410) 720-6129 or (410) 730-5016.
If you are a private employer with at least 15 employees who work for you for 20 weeks or more a year, you are subject to federal law under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. You may be subject to equal employment opportunity guidelines if you have a federal contract or subcontract; even small businesses must perform EEO compliance analyses [http://smallbusiness.chron.com/eeo-compliance].
To help avoid discriminatory practices that lead to costly compliance violations or Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) litigation, training is becoming a necessary strategy at all levels within the talent management lifecycle. PeopleFluent’s Workforce Compliance and Diversity educational services address the extraordinary spike in activity seen from federal agencies like the Office of Federal Contractors Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). From affirmative action content to preventing harassment courses, to diversity you can implement a solid training program that allows you to easily plan, deploy, track, and measure training activities while meeting legal requirements in Maryland and throughout the nation.
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act established 5 "protected" classes for employment purposes: (1) race, (2) color, (3) religion, (4) sex and (5) national origin. Additional "protected" classes have been added in the time since: (6) age, (7) veteran status, (8) pregnancy, (9) disability and (10) genetic status. Further, (11) sexual orientation and (12) gender identity also exist as protected classes in certain states, but are not fully protected at the federal level [see, Alan Li/www.ehow.com/info/eeo-compliance].
To comply with EEO requirements, you must treat all people fairly regardless of national origin, race, religion, color, sex (including pregnancy and sexual orientation), disability or genetic information. You must also extend fair treatment to employees who marry someone of a different national origin, race, religion or color. In addition, if you have 20 or more employees, you must treat workers over 40 the same as younger employees to comply with EEO guidelines under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. EEO compliance includes not using any of these factors when you are hiring, promoting, disciplining and laying off workers.
Comply with EEO requirements by having a zero-tolerance policy for harassment. An employee harassing another employee because of national origin, race, religion, color, age, sex, disability or genetic information creates a hostile work environment. If you discipline employees who don’t abide by your zero-tolerance policy, you can prevent violations, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It is always preferable to avert discrimination before it becomes an issue for your business. You can receive training through the EEOC to learn more ways to prevent employment discrimination.
You must keep accurate personnel records for one year after an employee is terminated to comply with EEO guidelines. To follow ADEA guidelines, you must keep records for three years. Keep payroll records, employee benefit plan information and any merit system records. You must also keep records for two years that explain your various pay rates. This information includes wages paid, job evaluations and merit systems. You must also display an EEO poster that explains about job discrimination. In addition, if you employ more than 100 people, you must file an EEO-1, Employer Information Report and an EEO-3, Local Union Report.
If your business involves federal contracts or subcontracts worth more than $10,000, you must comply with EEO requirements or your contract could be canceled. Follow the guidelines. Don’t discriminate; hire based on how well people can perform the job. Post an EEO poster in the workplace (see Resource 1). Put language in your job advertisements affirming that you consider all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and include the required tagline: “EEO/AA employer.” Keep accurate hiring and employment records, and file an annual EEO-1 Report [see, Laura Agadoni, Demand Medi/Chron.com; the Houston Chronicle/P.O.Box 4260, Houston, Texas 77210-4260].
In sum, save your business costly discrimination lawsuits by keeping your company's policies and EEO training up to date.
In sum, save your business costly discrimination lawsuits by keeping your company's policies and EEO training up to date.
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