Affirmative Action: A Program Of Positive Action

Affirmative action is a program of positive action, undertaken with conviction and effort to beat the present effect of past practices, policies, or barrier to equal employment opportunities and to achieve the full and fair participation of women, minorities and individuals with disabilities found to be underutilized in the workforce based on availability. The purpose of affirmative action is to establish fair access to employment opportunities to create as workforce that is a correct reflection of the demographics of the qualified available workforce in the relevant job market. Affirmative Action policies and programs are tools in order to recruit, hire and promote qualified women, minorities and individual with disabilities. Affirmative Action is the set of public policies and initiatives designed to help eliminate past and present discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or natural origin (Minnesota State University 2011). On the other hand, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 (Public Law 92-261) instituted the federal Equal Employment Opportunity program, which is considerate to ensure a fair treatment to every segment of the society without the observation of race, religion, color, national origin, or sex. The principal goal of this law is make the discrimination illegal in the different employment.

Equal Employment Opportunity programs consist of affirmative action for employment and decrease the discrimination complaints. All level of employees is covered under the present legislation. The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964, (Equal Employment Opportunity Act 1972). Equal Employment Opportunity is fair treatment in employment, promotion, training, and other personnel activity. The principal false impression about the Equal Employment Opportunity is that it applies to selected groups, but it is not true because Equal Employment Opportunity apply for everyone. The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1995 is the more recent laws.

This act prohibits discrimination on fourteen titles: (1) impairment, (2) marital status, (3) political belief or activity, (4) race, (5) religion, (6) sex, (7) societal status as a person,(8) age, (9) role in business dealings, (10) lawful sexual activity, (11) physical features, (12) pregnancy, (13) position or past positions held as employment, and (14) association with a person who is identified by reference to any of the thirteen other listed grounds. The act also talks about the prohibition of sexual harassment, to both employers and employees. There is another article of the legislation dealing with equal employment opportunity to Executive Order 11478, Equal Employment Opportunity in the Federal Government. The order supply a uniform policy for the federal government to use in elimination discrimination principally based on sexual orientation in the federal civilian work force, in addition to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, physical disabilities, or age for which discrimination is prohibited in Executive Order 11478, (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 1995).

Title VI is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin by recipients of Federal financial assistance. Police departments, sheriffs’ departments, and other law enforcement agencies receiving assistance from the Department of Justice (DOJ) are subject to the civil rights requirements of this and other civil rights laws. Simply stated, all persons must be treated equally without regard to their race, color, or national origin. People may not be excluded from participating in, denied the benefits of, or discriminated against in the programs, services, or activities of an agency receiving DOJ assistance. In addition, a law enforcement agency must make sure that its policies and practices do not have the effect of discriminating against people because of their race, color, or national origin, (US. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission).

References

Equal Employment Opportunity Act (1972). Retrieved from www.geoc.gov . Equal Employment Opportunity Act (1995). US. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Website. Retrieved from www.eeoc.gov .
Minnesota State University (2011). What is Affirmative Action?. Retrieved from www.mnst.edu . U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Retrieved from
www.gsa.gov .