I work for a company which has policy and procedures of Equal Opportunity Employment and it seems like it ?

doesn't enforce or practice what is within its policy? As well how do I handle a situation where one of the co-workers I work with is always late or absent and my supervisor always covers up for her. I've tried taking the problem to Human Resources, and upper management, and it seems like no one wants to do anything about it can someone aid?

Dude, those people who always get away with being late *ALWAYS* get away with being late. They also tend to do very well at not actually doing their jobs, complaining a lot about their personal lives, coming to work in an altered state and feeling threatened by anyone who doesn't treat them like royalty. I don't know what it is that they're doing behind the scenes, they're always able to get away with this nonsense without failure. Ive been employed in some capacity for nearly 14 years now, and I can promise you that you're only deeply hurting yourself by making an issue of it. Upper management doesn't care. Middle management tends to make a career out of avoiding conflict and lower management obviously likes this woman for some reason. By bringing it to people's attention, you're making yourself a target. Best to just deal with the problem. If you can't deal with it because her truancy increases your burden substantially, transfer or quit. If her laziness compromise the workplace's ability to function as a unit and you are asked by middle or upper management, answer nonchalantly but directly that the probelm is the employee who does not feel compelled to do her job.

There are a couple of things here I'd like to say. First, stop worrying about the co-worker who's late/absent - just document it. If you get in a situation where the same boss chooses to document or take action against you, then present your documentation. One word of caution, though: just like your boss talks to you about performance privately, don't take it as certain the co-worker isn't being disciplined. That may be done privately as well.
A lot of companies have an Ombudsman program, where an employee can anonymously make a EEO complaint. In many states, retaliation for a complaint made in good faith is illegal, and if I were the legal dept or HR, I wouldn't want to risk a lawsuit that could hurt the company financially or in terms of its public image, just to protect someone who is violating the law. EEO is the law; be sure of your facts, document it and present it until it's resolved.
Lastly, I personally recommend worrying about your performance and not to look around to others. My experience has been that I can always find inequities by searching for them - some real, some not.

Equal Opportunity Employment refers to hiring people from different ethnic backgrounds and religious backgrounds and people whom have disabilities. It refers to the fact that they do not discriminate against anyone in the hiring process. It has nothing to do with being the bosses pet. Maybe this person has a personal situation that you do not know of but your supervisor doesn't. Just curious, how old are you?

a catch 22 situation, you are stuck between the devil & the deep sea, on the one side your colleague doesn't do justice to her job & on the other hand the thick layers of bureaucracy prevents anything from happening, trust me if the shareholders of the company knew about it, they would fire the CEO, too bad its not happening any time soon so either stay put loose ur identity & become a bureaucrat or look for a better company a better job with better responsibilities... cheers

If they don't practice their own policies, and going up the chain of command doesn't work, you should probably just leave, and go to work for a company that does practice what they preach.

As for the issue of the other employee, I think that comes down to simply minding your own business. If it doesn't affect your life, leave it be.

Where i worked people got away with murder, usually because one worker was fixing the bosses car or sleeping with one of the managers. If you complain word usually gets back. Best to get out!