EEOC Releases Tools to Educate Young Workers about Workplace Discrimination

Youth@Work Video, Classroom Guides and Updated Web Page Part of National Outreach Effort to Teach Teens About Their Rights at Work

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today released a video and accompanying classroom guides to educate working-age students about sexual harassment and other forms of employment discrimination. These tools were developed as part of EEOC's Youth@Work, an effort to educate America's youth about their employment rights and responsibilities and help employers create positive work experiences for young adults. The tools are free to the public and will be posted online at www.youth.eeoc.gov under "free downloads." In addition, educators may request the video and classroom guides by e-mailing Youth.AtWork@eeoc.gov.

The video and the classroom guides provide a series of vignettes to help teenagers entering the work force understand some of the issues they may face. The vignettes show typical workplace settings for teens, such as a retail store and a fast food restaurant. The classroom guides help teachers and students identify illegal discrimination and harassment. EEOC will provide one copy of the video and one set of classroom guides per person, while supplies last.

"As young people enter the workforce, it is important that they understand their rights and know how to respond if they experience or witness unlawful discrimination or harassment," said EEOC Chair Jacqueline A. Berrien. "The EEOC is committed to ensuring that the promise of equal employment opportunity is meaningful for everyone, including members of the labor force who are especially vulnerable to discrimination and harassment."

The EEOC also updated its Youth@Work web page, which includes information about different types of job discrimination that young workers may encounter and suggests strategies they can use to prevent, and, if necessary, respond to such discrimination. The web page also includes an interactive tool called "Challenge Yourself!" that provides an opportunity for teens to test their knowledge by analyzing sample job discrimination scenarios. 

The EEOC developed Youth@Work in 2004 to help educate teens about their rights and responsibilities at work and to help employers create positive work experiences for young adults. Since then, the federal agency has hosted nearly 6,600 Youth@Work events nationwide, reaching over 400,000 students, education professionals, and employers. Further information about Youth@Work is available online at http://www.youth.eeoc.gov/. 

The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.