Evans-Bridges Week 2 Legal Issues in the Workplace

.docx

School

Grand Canyon University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

565

Subject

Psychology

Date

May 22, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by HIPPITYHOPPER84

Legal Issues in the Workplace Toccara Evans-Bridges College Name, Grand Canyon University PSY-565: Industrial/Organizational Psychology Dr. Paul Helmreich 07/27/2022 1

Legal Issues in the Workplace Protected Class and Adverse Impact Protection is always good especially in the sense of human rights. At one point in America not everyone was treated equally regarding working. There was discrimination against age, disability, race, origin, sex, etc., Thanks to the federal government and laws, there is now protection against certain actions in the workplace. “A protected class refers to certain groups of individuals protected by anti-discrimination laws, such as women, older workers, people with disabilities, minorities and others” ("Protected Class", 2022). In the year 2022, one would think that employers know better than to use discriminatory hiring practices; however, that is not the exact case. Companies like Hobby Lobby faced a discrimination suit in 2021 in their Olathe, Kansas location, by denying an employee their service animal during shifts and firing them because of their disability. Unfortunately, this was the case for more than one hundred businesses according to zippia.com. Aside from discriminatory practices there is something called “Adverse Impact,” occurs when a decision or practice has a negative effect on a protected group of people, even though the impact may be unintentional. “Adverse impact is often used interchangeably with ‘disparate impact’—a legal term coined in a significant U.S. Supreme Court ruling on adverse impact” (Hrala, 2022). A good example of this adverse impact is when an employer may place an ad for a job that requires a certain skill set, such as 5-10 years of experience this could make a certain set of people feel they are not qualified enough to apply since the average 21-year-old does not have the years of experience. 2

Subsection Heading To avoid adverse impact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Department of Labor, Department of Justice, and the Civil Service Commission in 1978 helped come up with a rule called the Four-Fifths Rule. "The agencies have adopted a rule of thumb under which they will generally consider a selection rate for any race, sex, or ethnic group which is less than four-fifths (4/5ths) or eighty percent (80%) of the selection rate for the group with the highest selection rate as a substantially different rate of selection," (Hrala, 2022). In simplest terms, the selected group for a position should be at least 80% of the protected group. Unethical Practices Even though there are anti-discrimination laws in place to help individuals avoid who are at risk of unfair treatment, during a hiring process there are some ethical things that can take place unintentionally that can have adverse effects. When a recruiter conducts and interview or creates a job posting, they must be careful because their unintentional decision can have dire consequences that can impact the company’s reputation and the recruiter reputation. Unethical practices in employee referrals, misrepresentation of job duties and posting jobs that do not exist are a small percentage of unethical situations that can tarnish the reputation of a company. Unethical employee referral programs. It is great when employees can submit or suggest a friend to be hired in a position and they gain some incentive if the friend stays for a certain amount of time; however, when someone who is at a senior level refer someone and that individual is hired, the subordinate could feel some level of obligation, for being hired. An extreme version of this is located in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's 2015 investigation into the investment firm JPMorgan Chase & Co. The firm's client referral 3

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

Recommended textbooks for you

Ciccarelli: Psychology_5 (5th Edition)

Psychology

ISBN:9780134477961

Author:Saundra K. Ciccarelli, J. Noland White

Publisher:PEARSON

Cognitive Psychology

Psychology

ISBN:9781337408271

Author:Goldstein, E. Bruce.

Publisher:Cengage Learning,

Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and ...

Psychology

ISBN:9781337565691

Author:Dennis Coon, John O. Mitterer, Tanya S. Martini

Publisher:Cengage Learning

Psychology in Your Life (Second Edition)

Psychology

ISBN:9780393265156

Author:Sarah Grison, Michael Gazzaniga

Publisher:W. W. Norton & Company

Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research a...

Psychology

ISBN:9781285763880

Author:E. Bruce Goldstein

Publisher:Cengage Learning

Theories of Personality (MindTap Course List)

Psychology

ISBN:9781305652958

Author:Duane P. Schultz, Sydney Ellen Schultz

Publisher:Cengage Learning

SEE MORE TEXTBOOKS

Recommended textbooks for you

Ciccarelli: Psychology_5 (5th Edition)
Psychology
ISBN:9780134477961
Author:Saundra K. Ciccarelli, J. Noland White
Publisher:PEARSON
Cognitive Psychology
Psychology
ISBN:9781337408271
Author:Goldstein, E. Bruce.
Publisher:Cengage Learning,
Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and ...
Psychology
ISBN:9781337565691
Author:Dennis Coon, John O. Mitterer, Tanya S. Martini
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Psychology in Your Life (Second Edition)
Psychology
ISBN:9780393265156
Author:Sarah Grison, Michael Gazzaniga
Publisher:W. W. Norton & Company
Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research a...
Psychology
ISBN:9781285763880
Author:E. Bruce Goldstein
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Theories of Personality (MindTap Course List)
Psychology
ISBN:9781305652958
Author:Duane P. Schultz, Sydney Ellen Schultz
Publisher:Cengage Learning