EEOC compliance and affirmative action in hiring policies

Education Law

Education 520 Business Law

Hiring policy

To avoid an anti-discriminatory lawsuit regarding hiring practices, an employer should declare him or herself an 'equal opportunity employer.' To be compliant with the laws enforced by the EEOC, an employer must not discriminate based upon race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. The employer should also not discriminate on the basis of pregnancy, age, disability or genetic information (Laws enforced by the EEOC, 2012, EEOC).

If the institution wishes to pursue a strategy of affirmative action regarding the hiring and promoting of employees he or she should state it clearly in employment literature, usually in the form of the phrase that 'members of historically discriminated-against groups are encouraged to apply.' However, the employer must be careful not to use a quota system, or set a goal for how many members of such groups will be hired to positions, based upon their membership in historically-discriminated against categories alone.

Ultimately, the goal of a sensitive hiring policy should be the promotion of diversity, not tokenism, and it should be noted that the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years has taken a more narrow definition of what constitutes quota systems when evaluating the constitutionality of hiring decisions. Thus, erring on the side of caution would be advised when enforcing a policy of affirmative action. For example, "in a landmark decision in 2003, the Court ruled that a public university could consider an applicant's race during the law school admissions process. The Court, however, said that public universities could not provide 'broad and arbitrary advantages' to each minority applicant" (Affirmative action, 2012, Labor employment law). Although this was in reference to student enrollment at a law school, it is important to be mindful of such principles when setting anti-discrimination law. Also, the Court ruled in favor of white firefighters claiming reverse discrimination when their scores were thrown out on "promotional exams that officials said left too few minorities qualified" (Mears 2009).

Employers must be sensitive to charges of reverse discrimination when creating hiring policies as well as responding to the need to honor the value of diversity. The institution should note that "ongoing administrative reviews of hiring practices" and "frequent affirmative action analyses of faculty, staff, and student units to determine 'challenge areas'" are part of the workplace culture so employees understand the ideological orientation of the department before applying (Affirmative action, 2012, Labor employment law).

Dismissal policy

Non-tenured employees can be dismissed 'at will,' or based upon the decisions of their supervisors, not simply due to negligence of duties but also because of such factors as the need for cost-cutting within certain departments. In contrast, however, tenured faculty members can only be dismissed to due cause. Such causes may include "substantial neglect of duties; demonstrable incompetence; moral turpitude; violation of the criminal law that places the institution or members of the university community in jeopardy; persistent and willful violation of standards of faculty conduct" (Tenure policy, 2012, Carnegie Mellon).

Instructional program

Students are expected to make satisfactory progress over the course of their academic careers. Students must complete the stated general education expectations, as noted within the student handbook. They must also maintain an overall GPA in their major, as specified within the department and overall their GPA cannot go beneath 2.0, after which they will be placed upon academic probation.

Within and without of the classroom, students are expected to observe a level of discourse that promotes the free exchange of ideas but does not create a threatening or harassing environment for other students. Students should have the rights to exercise freedom of speech regarding religious and political beliefs and have freedom of assembly. Students should be given clear expectations before entering into classes about the course requirements, so they can determine if they can fulfill them and so they know before hand that being expected to do so does not violate their personal or religious beliefs.

Regarding student disabilities, the university will strive to make reasonable accommodations for students to enable them to fulfill their academic course expectations. If students feel that the academic requirements of a particular course required to graduate violates their rights to freedom of religion or speech, they have the right to appeal this decision and bring it up before the dean of the college.