Georgia County Government-August 2008

CountiesandtheLaw Georgia’s Fair Employment Practices Act Getting fully conversant with the substance and procedures of the state’s Fair Employment Practices Act can avert a local government’s being blindsided by this little-known anti-discrimination statute. By Thomas A. Cox, Jr., Esq. and Tamika Nordstrom, Esq. Miller & Martin PLLC I t’s Monday morning and you start your day as you have for the past 10 years as the attorney for your Georgia county government. Just as you have finished your morning beverage, you receive a distressed call from the personnel director telling you that she has just received a call from an employee with the Commission on Equal Employment regarding a complaint filed by one of your county employees alleging that employees in her department had conspired to engage in discriminatory actions against her and certain other employees within that department. The Commission on Equal Employment representative has in turn asked to schedule interviews within the department. He has also outlined an extensive request for documents and personnel files to be reviewed and requested to interview several employees in the department. The department head now will rely on your counsel to get them through this process. You are now wrapping your head around this issue and trying to figure out what this is about, when suddenly you receive a call from one of your county commissioners’ offices. Apparently, news of this charge of discrimination has now spread throughout county government and leaked to the local media. Welcome to the world of the Georgia Fair Employment Practices Act. Knowing the rules regarding the Georgia Fair Employment Practices Act will help you to get through this very difficult time. The Georgia Fair Employment Practices Act was enacted in response to a series of federal statutes outlawing discrimination in employment.1 Many of the federal statutes permitted the establishment of state or local agencies to have concurrent jurisdiction over their employment practices. In response to this permissibility of concurrent jurisdiction, in 1978 the Georgia General Assembly adopted the Georgia Fair Employment Practices Act (FEPA).2 FEPA was designed to eliminate all forms of discrimination in public employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, handicap or age.3 It also provides public employees with an option to submit claims of discrimination to a state agency, rather than the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the governing federal agency responsible for these claims.4 Types of Prohibited Discriminatory Conduct At its core, FEPA prohibits discrimination with reference to hiring, discharge or discrimination against individuals with respect to compensation, the terms, conditions and privileges of employment based on an individual’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, handicap or age. Additionally, Georgia law allows the use of cases interpreting Title VII to serve as legal precedent.5 The second type of unlawful conduct prohibits any effort to limit, segregate, or classify employees in any way that intends to or deprives them of individual employment opportunities or affect LAW continued on page 26 AUGUST 2008 www.accg.org 25 http://www.accg.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Georgia County Government-August 2008

Georgia County Government- August 2008 Contents President’s Message County Matters Georgia’s Transportation Issues More Critical to Counties than Ever Expanding Rural Airports: Partnering for Economic Development in Upson County Meet DOT Commissioner Gena Abraham Bridge Infrastructure and Risk Counties and the Law: Georgia’s Fair Employment Practices Act Georgia’s Grand Old Courthouses: Coffee County Extension News: Infrastructure Investments Save County Funds Research Corner: Getting the Most Out of Your Research Discover the New Georgia Encyclopedia NACo News Staff News County Parade Index of Advertisers

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