Learn More About Equal Opportunity Employment

You have likely seen the abbreviated classified ads that have the letters EOE or DOE or EEO in them. These initials should be considered redundant, or unnecessary, really, the implication being that every job announcement in the paper would have EOE or etc. next to it. These abbreviations indicate the potential employer is abiding by the civil laws and is offering equal opportunity employment. Long gone are the days of sending a ten-year-old into the coal mines to work a ten-hour day; gone are the days of color-discrimination (or allegedly, anyway); and lucky are we in the US of A, anyway, to have national/federal equal opportunity employment laws, regulating any potential or existing employers.

One of the first fair laws to be enacted was in the sixties. By 1963, men and women were supposedly getting the same pay for the same work, taking away the sexism of the man earning a dollar and the woman earning sixty cents on that dollar—for the exact same job description duties (though, questionably, some pay is STILL not equal). This equal opportunity employment condition is made possible by the Equal Pay Act of 1963.

Aging and older workers got a break of sorts in the same decade, a few years later, when The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 was put into motion. Today, you and I, over 40, still get a fair shake, an equal chance at job interviewing, etc….

Two more imperative measures made equal opportunity employment possible for those in wheelchairs, with sensory challenges, and with any number of mental or physical “disabilities”—with the sections 501 and 503 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Titles I and IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Not only do these laws protect those seeking employment, but those disabled individuals who are employed at a site that must be up to code to accommodate the disabilities covered in the acts (ramps, Braille, etc., must be in place in such federal, state, and county buildings and on the grounds, for instance).

And the umbrella laws, if you will, such as The Civil Rights Act of 1991, continue to protect and maintain environs of equal opportunity employment from discrimination, harassment, and other illegal actions or treatment.

It may not be all that much of a joy to work in the first place. But at least we have the option, and have a governing body or groups of civil and legal caretakers who protect our rights to fair play, fair chances, and fair treatment—ongoing and consistent.