Equal employment opportunity
Equal employment opportunity is equal opportunity in employment. Examples of legislation to foster it or to protect it from eroding include the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which was established by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to assist in the protection of United States employees from discrimination. The law was the first federal law designed to protect most US employees from employment discrimination based upon 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.). 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.
Hazelwood School District v. United States
In 1969, the Hazelwood School District in Missouri hired its first black teacher, and continued hiring black teachers ever since. In 1972, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was amended to apply to public employers, including school districts, making the hiring of black teachers almost a necessity in order to avoid liability. However, due to statistical disparities in the hiring practices of this particular school district, as well as 55 individual cases of alleged discrimination, the United States brought suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri to enjoin the school district from discriminating based on race. The District Court found in favor of the school district, saying that the ratio of black teachers to white was roughly equivalent to the ratio of black students to white.