HOW TO PROTECT AGAINST DISCRIMINATION SUITS WITH A COMPREHENSIVE EEO POLICY

Concept and brief description:

In 2008, about 100,000 claims were sent to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. With the bad shape of the economy and the increasing number of firing, this number is more than likely to increase.
Face to this new tendency, Human Resources Management has the responsibility to find a solution. The best protection against discrimination suits is the creation of a solid and consistently applied policy on Equal Employment Opportunity.
An employer is exposed to the risk of discrimination every single day. An innocent question or comment can be interpreted as discrimination or harassment by the employee. Any question or remark about family, sex, race, age, and religion can lead to a suit for discrimination.
The best way to avoid those situations is to write an anti-discrimination chart for the company. The company and Human Resources must define a purpose, indentify protected groups, provide examples, identify a contact, conclude and anti-retaliation clause, describe the consequences, communicate the policies, and follow the company policy.
By creating those rules and communicating the policies, the company shows that discrimination is not tolerated at work, and that employees are expected to demonstrate diligence towards co-workers, as well as protecting those rights.

Emotional hook:

Try to ask the very same question to five different people about their origins, religion, age, sex, and family. Then, ask them to write their impressions and feelings about being asked this question at work. The feed-back will be very different, some will be positive, others negative. What would be the reasons of those differences of feelings?

Key to elicit discussion:

Every individual is different and unique. It is difficult for a company and its employees to make sure that comments and remarks will not be interpreted the wrong way. A same comment to two different persons can be taken in two very different ways. Employees need to understand the limits and behavior to follow at work in order to avoid discrimination.

Facilitative questions:

How can Human Resources Management make sure that all the policies of the Equal Employment Opportunity are understood and followed by every single employee?