MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2000 Regular Session

To: Rules

By: Senator(s) Horhn

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION COMMENDING AND CONGRATULATING THE FEDERAL EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION (EEOC) ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 35TH ANNIVERSARY.

WHEREAS, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will celebrate its 35th anniversary on July 2, 2000 and has selected as a theme "Ensuring the Promise of Opportunity"; and

WHEREAS, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was established by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and began operating on July 2, 1965 to enforce the principal federal statutes prohibiting employment discrimination; and

WHEREAS, the EEOC carries out its work at Washington, D.C. headquarters and in 50 field offices throughout the United States to include the Jackson area office of 40 employees; and

WHEREAS, over its thirty-five year history Congress had expanded the EEOC's enforcement jurisdiction from Title VII to include the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older; the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination; Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which prohibits employment discrimination against individuals with disabilities; and sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which provides monetary damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination; and

WHEREAS, the EEOC effectively manages between 75,000 and 80,000 charges of discrimination filed annually, recovers millions of dollars in monetary benefits for discrimination victims through mediation, conciliation and litigation, conducts Technical Assistance seminars and provides assistance to private and public sector employers in an effort to reduce the likelihood of workplace discrimination, and responds to over 100,000 requests annually from the public for information and assistance; and

WHEREAS, to commemorate this historic thirty-five-year milestone, and to reaffirm EEOC's commitment to the eradication of workplace discrimination, the agency is conducting a series of special events throughout the year to educate the public and highlight EEOC's role in enforcement and discrimination prevention; and

WHEREAS, the EEOC strives to effect a deeper understanding of what job discrimination is, to foster a greater appreciation for the agency's ongoing work to dismantle the ever-persistent barriers to equal opportunity on the job, and to galvanize the American spirit to accept no exceptions to the American declaration and promise of equal employment opportunity to all who are willing and qualified to work, without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age or disability:

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby commend and congratulate the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on the occasion of its 35th anniversary, and commemorates this historic milestone with a reaffirmation of EEOC's commitment to the eradication of workplace discrimination.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be presented to representatives of EEOC at the anniversary celebration to be held on July 2, 2000, and be forwarded to members of Mississippi's Congressional delegation and be made available to the Capitol Press Corps.