Compliance April 23, 2009

EEOC Issues Best Practices for a Caregiver-Friendly Workplace

April 23, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued a document on best practices to avoid discrimination against workers with caregiving responsibilities.
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Employer Best Practices for Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities provides recommendations for hiring and workplace policies to avoid discrimination against workers with caregiving responsibilities. In addition, it discusses policies that can make a workplace more caregiver-friendly, such as flextime and job sharing.

The agency said in a press release the best practices document supplements Unlawful Disparate Treatment of Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities , a guidance document issued by the EEOC in 2007.

“Today we take another step forward, articulating not just the bare minimum required to avoid unlawful discrimination, but also thinking broadly about the ways in which family-friendly workplace policies can improve workers’ ability to balance caregiving responsibilities with work.” EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru said in the announcement.

The best practices document is here .

In addition, testimony given at a public meeting by the EEOC to discuss the importance of policies that protect caregivers in an economic downturn can be viewed here .

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