Introduction The struggle against discriminative practices in employment has been one of the defining characteristics of American life for years. Starting in earnest in the 1940’s, this struggle has been at the heart of various organized groups in the US, such as political parties, civil rights movements, contemporaly women’s movements and other interest groups (Burstein, 1994, p. 18). On September 24, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson bowed to sustained pressure against employment discrimination and signed Executive Order 11246, allowing the establishment of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO). The EEO was established to disallow federal employment contractors from discriminating against workers on the basis of race, creed, social status, sex, religious orientation, color or nationality. The Executive Order also sought to compel employers to implement affirmative action strategies to enhance the participation of minority communities and women in the labor force (Collins & Yeskel, 2005, p. 36). While EEO was modelled around fundamental concepts needed to level the playing field in regards to employment opportunities, it is the purpose of this paper to show how the key objectives of EEO remain largely unattained in the American workforce. Most Americans are of the opinion that the labor market usually operates justly, that individuals are promoted by the virtue of their hard work and qualifications, and that they can generally expect to receive rewards that are commensurate to their input in their places of employment (Burstein, 1994, p. 1). Indeed, many Americans have an indistinct sense that some communities and racial groups continues to be discriminated against in the 21 st century but know little about the reality and tend to think that discrimination in employment is a thing of the past. According to Burstein (1994), “…virtually all groups except white protestants of northwest European ancestry have suffered from intense discrimination at one time or another” (P. 1). However, even members and communities that have suffered massively from employment discrimination, predominantly women and blacks, continue to have vague ideas about how it has influenced their lives and how it has transformed itself over time. As such, it is only imperative to evaluate the basic tenets of EEO to be able to clearly outline the disjoint between the ideals of EEO and the realities on the ground The Basic Tenets of EEO Laws In the US, various EEO standards, such as merit selection and fair pay have been designed to assist the public sector in attracting and retaining the best employees from diverse communities (Collins & Yeskel, 2005, p. 48). All public sector agencies have a deep-seated responsibility to be all-inclusive in the provision of workplace environments where all employees are valued. Pundits are of the opinion that a skilled and diverse workforce offers the public sector the skills and knowledge needed to provide quality services to all communities. In the US, monitoring and enforcement of EEO laws are done by the Civil Rights Centre and The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, under the Department of Labour (USDOL, 2009, para. 2). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is an autonomous federal agency charge