HR Basics is a series of short courses designed to teach you what you need to know about a specific human resource management topic. In today's HR Basics, we define equal employment opportunity and examine the laws, workplace discrimination and the bodies responsible for preventing it.

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) refers to laws, regulations and processes designed to treat employees fairly. In the United States, it is generally illegal to base hiring decisions on factors other than the employee's qualifications. If violated, the costs of litigation, fines and damage to the company's reputation can be significant.

Discrimination is treating people differently. We choose to treat people differently every day. Discrimination becomes problematic when people are treated unfairly because of characteristics they possess that have nothing to do with their ability to do a particular job.

In this course, we'll cover EEO laws, discrimination concepts, and the regulators responsible for workplace anti-discrimination. Equal employment opportunity means that employment decisions must be made based on job requirements and employee qualifications.

Let's first focus on the regulations in the form of equal opportunity laws and other regulations designed to ensure fair treatment of workers. Equal opportunity laws prohibit certain types of discrimination in the workplace.

Workplace discrimination is a form of discrimination based on protected characteristics by employers. Unlawful discrimination occurs when these decisions are made on the basis of protected characteristics. These are individual characteristics such as race, age, gender, disability or religion that are protected by equal opportunity laws and regulations.

A protected class is a group of people who share a common characteristic but who are legally protected from discrimination in the workplace because of that characteristic. These characteristics are known as "protected characteristics" and are referred to as "protected classes."

The two main EEO enforcement agencies are the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) (specifically the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs [OFCCP]). The EEOC is responsible for developing policy and monitoring compliance with most anti-discrimination laws. The OFCCP is responsible for the same activities related to Executive Orders.

Equal employment opportunity (EEO) means employment that is free from illegal discrimination. It is a broad concept that generally requires employers to make status-independent employment decisions. Status-independent decisions are made without regard to the individual's personal characteristics (e.g., age, gender, race).

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