| dc.description.abstract | The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was created by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Its purposes were to end discrimination in employment practices and to promote affirmative action programs. The EEOC has been hampered in its accomplishment of these objectives by vague and inconsistently applied operational guidelines.
The vagueness of the guidelines has caused a massive case backlog in the commission's files. Today the EEOC is behind by approximately 130,000 cases. Persons are filing complaints because they are not sure if they have been discriminated against or not. All of these charges must be investigated by the EEOC, and the backlog grows even larger.
Businesses are facing so many discrimination charges that they are now having their legal departments draw up their selection and interview procedures. As a result, the employment process has changed significantly in the U.S. over the past fifteen years. Employers are also having to cope with the conflicting demands of various agencies upon them. The avoidance of lawsuits, through adherence to all agency guidelines, is an important concern of today's business persons.
The EEOC has had internal problems, which have hindered its operations. Several directors, each with a personal interpretation of the commission's guidelines, have held the commission's top post in recent years. The lack of continuity caused by this succession has compounded the inefficiency of the commission. The EEOC has also faced criminal charges, and civil charges concerning employment practices which have distracted its attention from its objectives.
The objectives of the EEOC are worthwhile but unattainable. Discrimination is a human characteristic which exists simply because we live in a world of choice. Everyone discriminates because everyone has preferences. There is no personal characteristic which cannot be used by an employer to turn down a qualified applicant. The most effective employment practice will be the internalization of the concept of equality for all persons by all employers. And no government can mandate that. | en |
