The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) plans to maintain its bipartisan strategic enforcement plan, despite recent White House changes.
According to EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum, who recently spoke at the Society for Human Resource Management’s legal conference, the EEOC plans to focus specifically on six priorities in the coming years. It also plans to focus its resources on topics and provide employers with further guidance on what the agency is looking into.
Equal Pay Protections
The EEOC plans to hone in on its commitment to end pay discrimination. To do this, the agency is going to collect pay data from employers with 100 or more employees, with a deadline of March 31, 2018. The summary pay data will be added to the annual Employer Information Report (EEO-1).
Further Law Developments
The EEOC plans to focus on developing areas of the law, including the following:
- Pregnancy accommodations
- LGBT discrimination
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) issues
- Employment relationships
- Backlash discrimination
Employer Awareness
The EEOC plans to help employers become more aware of issues like removing recruitment and hiring barriers and preventing systematic harassment in the workplace. Moreover, Feldblum says the EEOC can be expected to take a comprehensive approach to combat workplace harassment, which includes the use of the following four checklists, designed specifically for HR departments:
- Leadership and accountability
- Anti-harassment policies
- Harassment reporting procedures
- Compliance training
For more information on the EEOC’s plans or current laws, visit its website.