Why is EEOC Training Important?

When starting a business, despite what the job descriptions say, there is an oath that your leadership takes. They swear to keep their employees safe and comply with government regulations.

Management and executive leadership take on this oath for two very important reasons. One is that you want a positive company culture, and two is that you do not want lawsuits.

EEOC training for your staff helps to boost positive company culture and better educate your staff so that they understand what discrimination is. This is a preventative measure you can take as an employer to avoid lawsuits.

The EEOC, which is short for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, reported in the year 2020 that they received 67,448 charges of discrimination in the workplace. They were able to get $439.2 million for the victims through litigation and voluntary resolutions. The victims of discrimination are from the private sector and the workplace from the local and state government.

Let’s talk more about why EEOC compliance training can help your organization to avoid challenges like these.

What is EEOC Training?

With EEOC training, you receive an education that helps employees and managers understand the laws that the EEOC enforces. It’s a way to correct and prevent discrimination that may occur in the workplace.

It is the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s responsibility to enforce federal laws. It is illegal to discriminate against an employee, or job applicant, based on color, race, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and transgender), religion, age, national origin, genetics, or disability.

The laws apply to situations like:

• Hiring
• Firing
• Harassment
• Promotions
• Training
• Wages
• Benefits

The EEOC laws cover most employers which have, at minimum, 15 employees. For age discrimination, it is a minimum of 20 employees. They largely cover employment agencies and labor unions, too.

Why is EEOC Training Important?

For employees, EEOC training helps them to understand their rights and feel safer at work. If you choose EEOC online training, your staff will learn about topics like the Americans with Disabilities Act and sexual harassment.

Training will cover all types of discrimination, including race, religion, age, and pregnancy. An excellent program will discuss dress codes, language rules, and guidelines for hiring employees.

Also, EEOC training will go over how to report a complaint. This includes reporting the issue to the employer and the different government agencies to reach out to. Usually, the classes talk about the type of protection an employee will get if an employer retaliates because of the complaint.

The training should also give tools and tips that will help the employee avoid actions that could lead to an EEO violation.

Managers and Employers

Just like employees should get EEOC training, so should the employers and managers. In fact, it should be a requirement. The difference between the training program is that it should include topics specific to their roles.

Human resource managers must learn about the law regarding the use of social media and search engines. Even using Google to find an employee.

It is important for an employer to educate themselves so that they can avoid potential mistakes. Otherwise, you risk a potential discrimination charge.

Managers and employers should receive training so that they better understand the investigative process, too.

EEOC Training Requirements

For most businesses, it is not mandatory to take part in EEOC training. Many companies require EEOC training in their human resources policies, however.

Some states have passed a statute that requires employees to take sexual harassment training. These states include:

• California
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Illinois
• Maine
• New York

Federal law, state law, and court decisions have clarified that an employer should offer anti-harassment training. They recommend it for all employees in all 50 states.

EEOC Civility Training

The EEOC Task Force on Harassment has taken a step further and made a newer recommendation on employers offering civility training programs. Civility training is for all employees, managers, and supervisors. It is a piece of a holistic prevention effort for harassment.

Employers choose to offer civility training for many reasons. It promotes considerate, respectful behavior by every person in the workforce. For a long time, this training has been around to reduce conflicts and prevent workplace bullying.

The difference in civility training is that there is a focus on what is positive behavior versus what is illegal conduct. It educates workers on what is welcome behavior.

Techniques that the training covers include promoting a harassment-free, respectful work culture. It teaches managers and supervisors techniques, such as healthy conflict resolution, better communication skills, and effective supervision.

Everyone, from employees to customers, can benefit from civility training.

Benefits of EEOC Online Training

E-learning has shown many benefits for the workforce. It is easy to integrate EEOC online training because it comes via the internet. This means that you can easily teach the classes to a global workforce.

Online training is flexible too. Employees can take them anytime. It doesn’t have to be scheduled at a slotted hour or for a full day for a particular group.

It may be easier for your staff to take the training in the evening or on the weekend so that it doesn’t interrupt a day that is full of meetings. They can focus more too, as it drastically reduces potential interruptions.

A worker can take EEOC online training on any device, not just a desktop computer or laptop. It can work on a smartphone or tablet.

When you eliminate books and handouts and go with a straight electronic course, this reduces out-of-pocket costs and simplifies the entire process. They can complete testing online too.

This is a great way for your human resources to keep track of everything. They can see who took the courses and they can get reports on any test or assessment that was taken.

Take Compliance Training Online

Ready to offer EEOC training for your staff online? We can help!

Since 2008, we help to keep employees safe and companies compliant with our easy-to-use, low-cost, high-quality online training courses. Besides EEOC, we offer DOT, HIPAA, OSHA, and much, much more.

We offer a training experience that is second to none. Contact us today for more details on EEOC training.