EEOC Issues Enforcement Guidance Regarding Discrimination in Employee Benefits

On October 3, 2000, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) released enforcement guidance (the “Guidance”) analyzing discrimination in employee benefits. The Guidance serves as a reference for EEOC personnel to follow in investigating alleged violations of discrimination laws, as well as a source of information regarding the EEOC’s position on issues arising under the various employment discrimination statutes. The Guidance is important to employers because it will be cited by plaintiffs in litigation, and often given deference by the courts. Although the Guidance is not controlling upon the courts and does not receive the same deference as EEOC regulations, courts have looked to the Guidance in their analyses as "a body of experience and informed judgment." See, e.g., Smith v. Midland Brake, Inc., 180 F.3d 1154, 1165 n.5 (10th Cir. 1999) (citing Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57 (1986) and Thomas Jefferson Univ. v. Shalala, 512 U.S. 504 (1994)).

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