What is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)?

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the federal agency tasked with enforcing the government’s employment discrimination laws. These federal laws prohibit discrimination against job applicants or employees based on race, sex, religion, national origin, age, health, and more. The EEOC protects against discrimination in all aspects of the workplace, including hiring, training, wages, promotions, benefits, and firing.

Within the hiring process, the EEOC’s guidelines affect pre-employment tests just as they affect every other type of criteria used to make hiring decisions. Generally, using pre-employment tests is legally defensible as long as the test is assessing a skill, ability, trait, or competency that is job-related and consistent with business necessity.