My EEO Story

This is a turn I did not expect my life to take.

At some point, a year or more from now, I’ll be able to return to this post and give all of the detail. For now, however, this post has to be vague. Even vague, though, stories matter, and because they matter, they are all worth telling. This one is worth telling.

Someone very important to me was treated badly by their employer because of a status that is protected by Federal law. My Important Person just wants to do their job and live in peace, and also be healthy. When my Important Person asserted their rights and the perpetrator didn’t get what they wanted, they retaliated by making things worse, and then worse again. Eventually the union got involved, but by that time things had progressed beyond a grievance and my Important Person was encouraged to file an EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) complaint.

EEO refers to a set of Federal laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on “race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and related conditions, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information” (more at the EEOC Website). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) oversees these laws, beginning with an Executive Order signed by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 (learn more about EEOC history and the laws involved from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau). Federal Law, and the EEOC, are also responsible for the process individuals go through to try to get help when they believe their rights have been violated based on a protected status.

If your employer keeps you from working because you’re bad at your job, that stinks. But if your employer keeps you from working because you have a disability when a reasonable accommodation would allow you to do your job, then that’s discrimination based on a Federally-protected status.

Filing an EEO complaint requires following a process and submitting documentation. It also involves gathering data. As a social scientist, writer, and educator, I have a skill set that is very well suited to gathering, synthesizing, and presenting information to tell the story of what happened, how if affected my Important Person, and what remedies my Important Person thought would be helpful.

This EEO story has only moved past the introductory chapters and it looks like we’re settling in for a book instead of the hoped-for short story (I promise that my vaguebooking will make sense later!).

Why Write about This?

Why am I writing about this while it’s all so very vague?

Like most people, when I encounter something important that I don’t know much about, I turned to Google. What I ran into was what looked like a ton of information, but it turned out to be variations on a theme: regurgitation after regurgitation of a basic EEOC explainer from the EEOC website. I found tidbits of information, including the very concerning information that the majority of successful complaints are represented by a lawyer(!!!). I found many legal firms willing to represent employers, but many fewer willing to represent individuals. Since my Important Person can’t afford a lawyer, that didn’t help much.

Sometimes the only way to learn is by doing. And sometimes you don’t know what you need to know until you try. I am learning SO. VERY. MUCH. as we progress through this process.

In the following weeks, months, and whoever knows how long, I will use this space to pass along what I learn and to give tips where I can.

I hope that you won’t need any of this. But if you do, I hope that you find this set of blog posts to be helpful.