What are affirmative action and equal employment opportunity, and are they the same thing?
The ideas underlying affirmative action and equal employment opportunity are similar with respect to selection, employment, and promotion; however, affirmative action and equal employment opportunity embody different concepts. Equal employment opportunity means that all individuals must be treated equally in the hiring process, in training, and in promotion. Each person has the right to be evaluated as an individual on his or her qualifications without discrimination based on sterotypic conceptions of what members of minority groups or any other protected class are like. Classifications protected under federal and state equal employment opportunity laws are those of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, veteran status, and disability. Affirmative action goes further than equal employment opportunity. It affirms that organizations and individuals in organizations will seek to overcome the effects of past discrimination against groups such as women and minorities, disabled pe
