SECTION 335:15-1-2. Employment discrimination defined

  Discrimination in employment as an act or practice of an employer in failing to hire, discharging, or otherwise discriminating against an individual with respect to compensation or the terms, conditions, privileges or responsibilities of employment because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, or age. It is a discriminatory practice for an employer to limit, segregate, or classify an employee in a way which would deprive or tend to deprive an individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect the status of an employee, because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, or age. [25 O.S. Section 1302]. Pursuant to this statutory definition, the Oklahoma Human Rights Commission has adopted rules and interpretive guidelines for implementing the anti-discrimination provision of Title 25, O.S., Section 1302. These guidelines cover both the issues involved in discrimination in employment, discharge, promotion, etc., and the different basis: race, sex, etc., upon which a discrimination complaint can be filed. The general purpose of Title 25, Oklahoma Statutes, Section 1101 et seg. are to provide for execution within the State of the policies embodied in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 and Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973. [25 O.S. Section 1101].