Equal Employment Opportunity Policy

The PeopleGoal Equal Employment Opportunity Policy describes terms for equality and anti-discrimination in hiring. Download the equal employment opportunity policy template to PDF and simply adjust the information in the brackets to suit your company’s needs.

What is Equal Employment Opportunity?

Equal employment opportunity is a practice in which employers do not engage in discrimination through any means. It's aimed at protecting employees by levelling the playing field for job-seekers, providing fair and unbiased treatment in the workplace, and encouraging an open a transparent approach to promotion, training and skills development.

Equal employment opportunity is legislated in different ways depending on your country, and is often overseen by an independent body. In the US this is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and in the UK this is the Equal Opportunities Commission. There are many additional laws protecting workers' rights and you should familiarize yourself with these in your own country.

It's important to note that an equal opportunity employment policy does not strive to provide equal outcomes to every individual, but rather to provide an equal start for those beginning at a disadvantage.

What's included in this Equal Employment Opportunity Policy?

Our PeopleGoal Equal Employment Opportunity Policy describes the baseline protection you should be offering all of your workers, as well as the process for reporting any discrimination employees may face in the workplace. You should add further sections for unique legislation and additional offerings your organization has in place.

Equal Employment Opportunity

This company is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The company policy of equal opportunity applies to employees, job applicants, and contractors. Our company provides hiring, promotion, and benefits to all employees regardless of race, color, age, sex (including sexual orientation, pregnancy or gender identity) ethnicity or nationality, religion, disability, or medical history. Employees, job applicants, and contractors are guaranteed equal opportunities throughout hiring, training, performance reviewing, and compensation processes.

The Diversity Director is responsible for guaranteeing diversity and inclusion practices are followed. Reasonable accommodations will be provided to employees or job applicants who need them for medical or religious purposes.

Reporting Discrimination for External Job Applicants

This company conducts regular trainings for hiring supervisors to combat biases and ensure compliance of company anti-discrimination practices in the workplace. However, if a job applicant feels as though they have been discriminated against, they should contact the Diversity Director immediately.

Managers, directors and other employees are required to respond appropriately to discrimination in the workplace. The Diversity Director is required to alert the Human Resources Manager and the General Counsel of alleged discrimination against job applicants, as appropriate. Investigative action must be taken by the Diversity Director and the General Counsel immediately and the job applicant must be notified of actions taken within 72 hours. Violation of the anti-discrimination policy, including failures to investigate, failures to notify, or failures to institute corrective or preventative measures, may result in suspension or termination.

Job applicants will not be punished for reporting discrimination, participating in a discrimination investigation, or for bringing a lawsuit to oppose discrimination. This company will protect the confidentiality of job applicants who report discrimination to the greatest extent possible.

External job applicants will not be notified about the status of their complaint, provided with the results of a discrimination investigation, and informed of any corrective or preventative action that is taken.

Reporting Discrimination for Internal Job Applicants

This company conducts regular trainings for hiring supervisors to combat biases and ensure compliance of company anti-discrimination practices in the workplace. However, if a job applicant feels as though they have been discriminated against, they should contact the Diversity Director immediately.

Managers, directors and other employees are required to respond appropriately to discrimination in the workplace. The Diversity Director is required to alert the Human Resources Manager and the General Counsel of alleged discrimination against job applicants, as appropriate. Investigative action must be taken by the Diversity Director and the General Counsel immediately and the job applicant must be notified of actions taken within 72 hours. Violation of the anti-discrimination policy, including failures to investigate, failures to notify, or failures to institute corrective or preventative measures, may result in suspension or termination.

Internal job applicants are discouraged from discussing an ongoing discrimination investigation or lawsuit with their department supervisors or other employees. Internal job applicants will not be punished for reporting discrimination, participating in a discrimination investigation, or for bringing a lawsuit to oppose discrimination. This company will protect the confidentiality of internal job applicants who report discrimination to the greatest extent possible.

Internal job applicants will be notified about the status of their complaint, provided with the results of a discrimination investigation, and informed of any corrective or preventative action that is taken.

Disclaimer: The PeopleGoal Policies are general templates and should only be used as a basis for company policies. Please take into account all local, state, and federal laws when drafting your company’s final policies. This is not a legal document or a contract, and PeopleGoal will not assume any legal liability associated with the use of this document.