In an ideal world, all workers who performed their job well would be compensated generously and never be the victims of unfair or discriminatory practices on the part of their employers. This not being an ideal world, such unfair or discriminatory actions can and do occur, which is why both state and federal agencies exist to protect the rights of workers. However, state protections (such as those provided by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing) and federal protections (such as those provided by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or EEOC) are not entirely consistent, with states offering protection in some areas that the federal government does not while in other cases the federal government offers protection beyond what the states offer.
The EEOC's authority derives in large measure from the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of l972, which gave the commission its teeth in its stated mission to eliminate all illegal discrimination in the workplace. The 1972 act increased the power of the EEOC by allowing it to:
To file pattern or practice lawsuits
To address issues of discrimination in federal, state, and local government offices
To address discrimination in smaller business
The act also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Coordinating Council, which comprises the EEOC itself along with the Departments of Justice and Labor, the Civil Service Commission, and the Civil Rights Commission and is designed to "maximize effort, promote efficiency, and eliminate conflict, competition, duplication and inconsistency" among the various federal programs (http://www.eeoc.gov/abouteeoc/35th/1970s/index.html).
Despite this broad mandate of the EEOC and its substantial powers of investigation and enforcement, it is often not as powerful a shield for employee rights as are state agencies. For example, the California Fair Employment and Housing department offers significantly g
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