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Volume 5 Number 1 EEOC FAILS TO ENFORCE CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS
The Chair of the House Education and Labor Committee has charged that EEOC is deliberately refusing to enforce the nation's civil rights laws. Based upon the findings of an investigation of enforcement at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Chair Augustus Hawkins (D-CA), has instructed his legal staff to explore the feasibility of filing a lawsuit to compel Administration officials to enforce the nation's equal employment opportunity laws, and also called for an examination of whether EEOC Chair Clarence Thomas' refusal to enforce existing consent decrees containing goals and timetables as legal remedies constitutes contempt of court and is sufficient grounds for his removal as Chairman. Representative Hawkins further stated:
During the time that these avenues are being explored, I intend to take an active role in bringing the gross deficiencies of the current commission to the attention of my colleagues on the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, who will be considering Mr. Thomas' renomination in the next few weeks. The first step in forcing the Commission to enforce the law may well be Senate rejection of Mr. Thomas for a second term as Chairman of the EEOC.
Clarence Thomas' first term expires July 1, 1986. The Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee will be holding hearings most likely in mid-July.
Background
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was established by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to enforce the law's prohibition of employment discrimination. EEOC has the power to investigate charges of discrimination, to attempt resolution through conciliation, and to file and pursue lawsuits when conciliation fails. EEOC, over the years, has developed guidelines to interpret Title VII and to let employers know what the law requires of them. Among these are Guidelines on Affirmative Action and the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures. EEOC's affirmative action guidelines adopted in 1979 approve the use of goals and timetables and other affirmative action mechanisms in complying with Title VII. Further, through the affirmative action guidelines, EEOC "deliberately set out to give employers a broad privilege to [use] affirmative action, including... goals and timetables, and other race conscious remedies, in situations where the beneficiaries were not the [actual] victims of prior discrimination, and where there were no prior "findings" of discrimination" (Alfred W. Blumrosen, "The Binding Effect of Affirmative Action Guidelines," The Labor Lawyer (1935)). The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures were first adopted in the 1960's and led to the Supreme Court's historic decision in the Griggs case invalidating tests that harmed minority applicants if they were not justified by business necessity. The latest version of the guidelines was adopted in 1973 by EEOC and the other federal agencies with responsibility for enforcement of the equal employment laws. They provide a unified position on the proper use of tests and other selection or promotion procedures. The guidelines were adopted after public notice and comment, and a public hearing was held to receive oral comments on the uniform guidelines. Supporters of the guidelines assert that if the Commission wants to revise them the same process should be followed.
  
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