Any given society is made up of different social groups mainly characterized by varied features such as race, gender, ethnicity and economic status among others. As a result, there are various imbalances that exist in societies in terms of access to available opportunities. In a business setting, the employed human resource exhibits such variations and at time, there have been cases whereby employees are discriminated due to their race, age, gender and religion. To mitigate this, governments have in the recent past established legislations that seek to protect employees from such discriminations when it comes to employment, promotions, demotions and rewards. This paper shall set out to identify and analyze three legislations that specifically deal with discrimination in promotion and hiring. To this end, an overview of the selected legislations shall be provided, and their strengths and weaknesses analyzed. Affirmative action The affirmative action plan was introduced in 1961 by President Kennedy in order to address discrimination based on race and minorities in various sectors (Pynes, 2008). Today, federal contractors and subcontractors are expected to implement affirmative action when recruiting, hiring and promoting minorities, women, individuals with disabilities and veterans. Pynes (2008) asserts that the procedures used to implement affirmative action in work places should be incorporated into the company’s personnel policies and are expected to be updated annually. The main advantage of affirmative action is that it empowers the minority communities and other vulnerable groups by ensuring that they have an equal opportunity to compete favorably with advantaged groups in society. On the other hand, Pynes (2008) states that affirmative action leads to misguided notions adopted by the minority groups. For example, young employees from minority groups who join the workforce may expect preferential treatment in regard to promotion and compensation as a result of affirmative action plans set by organizations. This is not right since such considerations should be based on merit (experience) rather than status. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 According to EEOC (2011, p. 1), Title VII “prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.” Section 703 of this act clearly states that it is unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire or discharge an individual based on his color, race, religious affiliation or nationality. In addition, it states that it is considered as an unlawful employment practice when an employer discriminates against any individual in matters pertaining to compensation, terms and conditions of employment or privileges due to the individual’s sex, religion, race or nationality. Similarly, Title VII considers it an unlawful employment practice if an employer segregate, limit or classify his/her employees in a manner that denies or seeks to deny any individual employment opportunities or affect an individual’s employment status because of his/her race, sex, religion or nationality (EEOC, 2011). The Act applies to employment agencies, labor organizations, training programs, national security agencies and ot