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Personnel Issues
Equal Employment Opportunity
Background
Equal employment opportunities and equity issues in the workplace are important issues that need to be considered in all focus areas.
Outcomes
This material addresses aspects of the following syllabus outcomes:
A student:
H1.1 investigates industry through the study of businesses in one focus area.
Source: Board of Studies (1999) Stage 6 Industrial Technology Preliminary and HSC Courses. Sydney, Board of Studies.
Go to the NSW government Equal Employment Opportunity 
web site and read about Equal employment opportunity, Eliminating discrimination and your rights and responsibilities.
Activity 1
Some phrases and words have been omitted. From your reading of the information in relation to equal employment opportunity, complete these statements.
EEO is about:
- making sure that ..........................................................................
- providing .....................................................................................
This means having workplace ... ............ . , ..........................., ......................... and ........................... that are fair and do not disadvantage people because they belong to particular groups.
In such an environment, all workers are valued and respected and have................. to develop their full potential and pursue a ..................... path of their choice.
EEO groups are people affected by past or continuing disadvantage or discrimination in employment. As a result they may be more likely to be unemployed or working in lower paid jobs. What are the four EEO groups?
EEO is designed to achieve the following outcomes:
- a .................. and skilled workforce
- improved employment access and participation by ........................
- a workplace culture displaying fair workplace ............... and behaviours.
Activity 2
Fair practices and behaviour
EEO aims to achieve fair practices and behaviour in the workplace, including:
- recruitment, selection and promotion practices which are .....................................................................................
- access for all .................. to training and development
- flexible working arrangements that meet the needs of ..................... and create a .................. workplace
- grievance handling procedures that are .................. to all employees and deal with workplace ............... promptly, confidentially and fairly
- communication processes to give .................. access to information and allow their views to be heard
- ...................... decisions being made without bias
- no unlawful discrimination or ..................... in the workplace
- respect for the social and cultural ..................... of all employees and customers.
Activity 3
Eliminating discrimination
Discrimination is treating someone unfairly or harassing them because they belong to a particular group. Under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977(NSW), it is against the law in NSW for any employer, including the Government, to discriminate against an employee or job applicant.
What are the nine groups mentioned in the legislation against whom discrimination is not allowed?
This is the law in most cases. (There are a few exceptions, e.g. sometimes employers get permission to fill a job with a person from a particular group.)
Both direct and indirect discrimination are against the law.
Direct discrimination means treatment that is obviously ....................or .................. For example, if an employer won't hire someone just because they are a woman this is likely to be direct ............ discrimination.
Indirect discrimination means having a requirement that is the same for everyone but has an effect or result that is ......... to particular groups. For example, not considering an employee's overseas skills and training when determining his or her level of pay can constitute indirect race discrimination.
It is the responsibility of every ............... to help prevent unlawful discrimination in their workplace.
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