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Equal employment opportunity isequal opportunity to attain or maintainemployment in a company, organization, or other institution. Examples of legislation to foster it or to protect it from eroding include the U.S.Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which was established byTitle VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to assist in the protection ofUnited States employees from discrimination.[1] The law was the first federal law designed to protect most US employees from employment discrimination based on that employee's (or applicant's) race, color, religion, sex, or national origin (Public Law 88-352, July 2, 1964, 78 Stat. 253, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e et. seq.).[2]
On June 15, 2020, the United States Supreme Court ruled that workplace discrimination is prohibited based on sexual orientation or transgender status.[3]Bostock v. Clayton County,590U.S. 644 (2020).
Employment discrimination entails areas such as firing, hiring, promotions, transfer, or wage practices and it is also illegal to discriminate in advertising, referral of job applicants, or classification. The Title is pertinent in companies affecting commerce that have fifteen or more employees. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is section 705 of the title.[4]
Equal employment opportunity was further enhanced whenPresident Lyndon B. Johnson signedExecutive Order 11246 on September 24, 1965, created to prohibit federal contractors from discriminating against employees based on race,sex, creed, religion, color, or national origin.
Executive Order 11246 was rescinded by anexecutive order of PresidentDonald Trump on January 22, 2025.[5][6]
Along with those protected classes, more recent statutes have listed other traits as "protected classes", including the following:
Theexecutive order also required contractors to implementaffirmative action plans to increase the participation of minorities and women in the workplace. Under federal regulations, affirmative action plans must consist of an equal opportunity policy statement, an analysis of the current workforce, identification of problem areas, the establishment of goals and timetables for increasing employment opportunities, specific action-oriented programs to address problem areas, support for community action programs, and the establishment of an internal audit and reporting system.
