Workplace Discrimination Analysis
Question 1
Discrimination can come in many forms in the workplace. Many HR professionals need to recognize all these many types of discrimination to ensure they can prevent unnecessary accountability issues that may arise for their employers. Some of the major discriminations that can arise from a workplace include; affirmative actions, violence at the workplace, Title VII discrimination, age discrimination, sexual harassment, disability discrimination, privacy issues and employment benefits among other forms of discriminations (Cassidy, Gardner et al, 2019). This paper will talk about many forms of discrimination and the legal consequences of discrimination and how organizations can prevent discrimination under the direction of specific laws.
Affirmative action is very common in workplaces, especially in a government institution. Affirmative action refers to the act where employers have to include the minorities in the community to their firms. People often considered as the minorities include people with disabilities, women and veterans. The steps the employers are forced to take to incorporate this group of people into their firms include offering them training programs and the necessary education (Fallucchi, & Quercia, 2018). This action is to provide equal opportunities to the underrepresented groups. Affirmative actions create equal opportunities; however, it has its disadvantages that go against fair treatment at the workplace. Affirmative actions sometimes focus on racial and gender biasness where employers focus on non-job-related issues rather than the potential of an employee in a given position. Affirmative action majors at eliminating racial discrimination and gender biasness among other discrimination though many a time, it leads to these situations to favour the historical majority. Affirmative action is the law itself and it legally demands every employer to adhere to it. A scenario of this action once happened when my nice, a physically challenged person, was admitted to a cleric job despite her inability to walk. This was a policy of the firm and this inability gave her an opportunity over the rest who were not challenged in any form. Another incident of affirmative action happened to me when I applied for a job and did not get a chance despite being qualified. The organization instead preferred the female candidate over me with a reason for maintaining gender equality in the firm.
Workplace violence is another form of discrimination that is very common in various workplaces. It includes any acts of harassments, threats, intimidation and any other disruptive behaviours that may arise from a workplace. This type of violence is a growing social issue that needs to be addressed. It is one of the main causes of injuries and even deaths at workplaces. Employers are automatically responsible for their employee’s actions according to agency law. The Civil Right Act of the year 1964 provides equal opportunity in employment. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are entitled to investigate any type of workplace violence and take the appropriate legal action when necessary. A case or workplace violence is common in sporting events when players fight against each other for various reasons. This includes racial abuses and unfair officiating. Another incident of workplace violence was depicted when a famous Kenyan artist inappropriately touched a journalist on live television. It brought out the type of assaults many females go through but don’t get out to the public.
Sexual harassment has existed over the years and still exists. This is major discrimination, especially among ladies who seek jobs with male bosses. Many of these bosses and people in position tend to ask for a favour from the ladies seeking employments for a reward of job opportunities. Most favours asked by these bosses are often sexually related where a lady give in to fulfil the boss’ pleasures to secure a job. It not only happens to ladies but also young men who look for employment chances in firms led by women. Most cases are reported in colleges where lectures and professors ask their female students for sex in return of good grades. Alternatively, male students are often mistreated by lectures and sometimes given undesired grades because they lack sexually fulfilling rewards to offer. When dealing with sexual discrimination, the legal implications of any employer can be large. Many times, employers will be held liable even if they were unaware of the harassment. “The Court of Appeals held that an employer is liable for sexual harassment by supervisory personnel, whether or not the employer knew or should have known about it. In the case of Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, “a female bank employee was allegedly subjected to sexual harassment by her male supervisor, including (1) public fondling, and (2) sexual demands, to which she allegedly submitted out of fear that she would otherwise lose her job. Centre Against Sexual Assaults advises, supports and counsel sexual assault victims in collaboration with other legal firms involved in sexual assault cases.
Question 2
Previous research has looked into various effects of the perception of employees and the impact of concerns from their respective human resource. Discrimination at workplaces has, however, attracted vast attention in the recent past. Employment discrimination greatly affects an organization. Employee’s commitment and job satisfaction are the majorly affected points as a result this discrimination. An individual’s feelings affect their commitment to the organization they serve and as a result, leads to poor performance from the affected people who are presumable professionals in their fields. The affected persons are most likely to call it to quit if these issues are not addressed, leading to loss of professionals in an organization. Discrimination also creates tension at workplaces leading to poor working relations. It lowers the work morale among employees and reduces the productivity rate. This leaves a negative opinion about the organization from the employees and by so doing, organizations get at a verge of total collapse. “Sanchez and Brock (1996) examined the effects of perceived discrimination on work outcomes among 139 Hispanic male and female employees. They found that perceived discrimination contributed to higher work tension and decreased job satisfaction and organizational commitment, above and beyond other common work stressors, such as role conflict and ambiguity,” Ellen A. Ensher.
Question 3
One type of employment discrimination that interests me and that I think that can provide a valid context for investigation is gender biasness. An organization cannot deny a position, or promotion of an individual based on their gender (Kuhn & Chancı, 2019). In one case, the plaintiff argued that the “discrimination manifested in various employment actions, among them disparate treatment in vacation and holiday time, denial of “speciality pay”, transfers from one job location to another, lack of a locker, poor locker room conditions, over scrutiny and criticism by her supervisors, and command disciplines”. Women have found that over the years, they have not been promoted to higher managerial positions due to their gender. They have also stated that their gender has prevented them from getting specific positions in companies due to the idea that women cannot do everything men can do.
Question 4 & 5
A tort is a term used to describe a civil offence committed against an individual in which the affected party can sue the offender for the damages caused. A case law, on the other hand, is an accumulation of gone decisions, mostly legal, that were written by law courts in the process of deciding on cases, where law analysis used these cases to handle the present cases (Donahue Jr, 2017). These two laws protect employees against any unforeseen occurrences that may breach their employment contracts. With these laws, employers are aware of any legal actions that are applied against them in case of any misconduct to their employees. It also protects the workers against common workplace discriminations as it offers viability to compensation in case of an unprecedented termination.
Question 6
In the Meritor vs. Vinson case, although the employer stated they did not know about the sexual harassment, they were still held liable. After Vinson was terminated, she sued her previous employer for sexual harassment. She faced sexual harassments and could not report for the fear of losing her job. Her claims were a form of sexual harassment and were fully actionable under Title VII. She had a case law from the experiences she faced while at Meritor and with tort law in place, she filed the lawsuit and got covered (Onwuachi-Willig, 2016). Her former employer was accountable for her workplace harassment despite not knowing anything and this helped her win the lawsuit and got compensated. It is therefore mandatory for every employer to observe the discipline of all stakeholders involved in an organization for the maximum performance, both from the employer, the employees and the organization at large.
References
Fallucchi, F., & Quercia, S. (2018). Affirmative action and retaliation in experimental contests. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 156, 23-40.
Cassidy, T., Gardner, C., Miller, S., & Moore, A. P. (2019). Analyzing Incidents of Workplace Violence to Inform Incident Planning and Mitigation Strategies. CARNEGIE-MELLON UNIV PITTSBURGH PA PITTSBURGH United States.
Kuhn, F., & Chancı, L. (2019). The Effects of Hiring Discrimination over the Business Cycle.
Donahue Jr, C. (2017). The Modern Laws of Both Tort and Contract: Fourteenth-Century Beginnings. Man. LJ, 40, 9.
Onwuachi-Willig, A. (2016). Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson. Stanchi, Berger, and Crawford (eds.), Feminist Judgments.