Achieving Team Member Equity: Fairness, Access & Opportunity

Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.

  Organizational Culture  

It has been over 50 years since the passing of the Civil Rights Act, which protects employees and job applicants from employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.

In a way, the 1960s marked the United States’ formal entrées into improving diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) within the workplace. For many, these concepts may seem new given their global recognition over the past few years. But history tells a different story. Here are a few highlights from U.S. federal legislation over the past 50-plus years:

• Equal Pay Act of 1963 - Protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination in the payment of wages or benefits.
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 & 1994 - Protects employees and job applicants from employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 - Protects persons 40 years of age or older from age-based employment discrimination.
• Rehabilitation Act of 1973 - Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended, protects employees and job applicants from employment discrimination based on disability.
• American Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 - Programs provide qualified individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from the…

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.