The number of discrimination charges reached a record high in 2010, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a government agency that investigates discrimination charges on the basis of race, sex, national origin, religion, retaliation, age, disability, and genetic information (Wong, 2011, para. 1). Although the majority of discrimination is unethical and unnecessary in the workplace, certain benefits can be seen if it is executed properly. Understanding discrimination is becoming more crucial as the workforce continues to become more diverse. Knowing where discrimination does and does not belong in the workplace will help employers create effective and progressive workforces.
In a plain sense, to discriminate means to distinguish, single out, or make a distinction. In the context of civil rights law, unlawful discrimination refers to unfair or unequal treatment of an individual or group based on certain characteristics, including but not limited to age, disability, ethnicity, gender, race, and religion (What is Discrimination, 2010, para. 1). United States law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, para. 3). Several laws and regulations have been implemented in the United States to combat discrimination and inequality in the workplace.
Over the last several decades, workplace issues have become an area of controversy for most employers. This is because the regulations surrounding what practices are considered to be discriminatory have increased dramatically. To enforce these issues, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) is playing a central role in making employers follow these provisions of the law. A recent example of this occurred, with the case EEOC v. HCS Medical Staffing Inc.
EEOC’s role in this case was to file lawsuit against the employer (Exel) on behalf of the
Through the years, America has made an overall improvement in eliminating discrimination, inequality and slavery and focusing more on inclusion, equal rights, and equal opportunity. Despite a considerable improvement, there are corporations and individuals that often revert to archaic means of treating employees, creating hostile environments. Consequently, different advocacy groups and laws still remain in effect and continue to evolve to protect the citizens and non-citizens of the USA.
The disparate impact, on the other hand, denotes the practices in hiring as well as other sectors that unfavorably distress a certain diverse group in the protected classes more than others. This is despite having neutral rules applied by the employers. These violations can be shown by providing evidence that the employment policies and practices have excessively negative effects on the protected group as compared with others (Schneider, 2010). Consequently, the disparate impact forbids the employers from utilizing a facially unbiased hiring practice that has an unfounded hostile effect on the specified protected group. The disparate impact is mostly inadvertent; however, the
The EEOC, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, made a final ruling to amend the Affirmative Action for individuals with disabilities on the federal employment level, to be completed by agencies as of January 3, 2018. Affirmative Action are policies and programs within agencies that required by federal statues and regulations set to remedy discrimination practices in the hiring of minority group members. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 required affirmative action and nondiscrimination in employment by Federal agencies of the executive branch. The EEOC issued a final rule to amend the regulations for individuals with disabilities.
In a perfect world, people would be equal in rights, opportunities, and responsibilities, despite their race or gender. In the world we live in, however, we always face all kinds of neglect based on different attributes. All over the United States, certain people treat others with prejudice because of particular features they possess. Unfortunately, prejudice and discrimination occur even in places which, by definition, should be free of all personal prejudices – specifically, in offices and other business surroundings. This tragedy is called workplace discrimination; not every unfair behavior at work, however, can be assessed as discrimination. Discrimination in the workplace happens when an employee experiences unfair treatment due to their race, gender, age, religion, marital status, national origin, disability or veteran status, or other characteristics. Discrimination is one of the largest issues people face in the workplace and it must be dealt with. The U.S. have laws and regulations on discrimination but it still often occurs. Workplace discrimination appears in hiring, training, promotion, firing, and other institutional or interpersonal treatment. Discrimination sometimes causes an employee to leave or quit the workplace, resign from a position, or in more severe cases, to commit suicide or act violently against the discriminators. Discrimination is one of the largest issues many people face in the workplace.
The issue of discrimination is very widely discussed, so widely that laws and statutes have been enacted and are continually addressed every day. This may occur in a courtroom, on the legislative floor or at the employer’s offices, but the fact that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) receives around 80,000 discriminatory filings annually, with 99,922 in 2010, there is little wonder the amount of attention to discrimination is warranted (Walsh, 2013). According to the EEOC’s website, the discrimination claims were more than the annual averages, but less than 99,000 in 2010, at 88,788 in 2014 (“EEOC Releases Fiscal”, 2015). These figures reiterate the importance and diligence in which discriminatory acts must be handled by all parties involved.
Throughout History, the idea of equal opportunities and rights had and still is a major issue amongst the people of the nation. Equal opportunities is defined as the treatment of others equally without the discrimination of their sex, race or age. Actions have been made to help prevent this from ever happening. In 1964, Congress passed Public Law 88-352 (78 Stat. 241). This civil rights act “forbade discrimination based on sex and race in hiring, promoting, and firing. ... Title VII of the act created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to implement the law.” Morris Dees acted upon this and as a lawyer for civil rights he helped prove that due to physical and social differences, you still have an opportunity to prove and have a say in the world. The want of equal opportunities by morris dees and the people, helped trigger the creation of the SPLC. The SPLC and the ideas that Morris Dees conveyed to the people
Throughout the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) 50 years of existence they have maintained focus on eliminating illegal discrimination from the workplace. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the order 8802 which prohibits companies under government contracts from joining in employment discrimination because of color, race, or national origin. This order was signed on the eve of WWII which was in June of 1941. This was the first presidential action was even taken to keep employment discrimination from happening by private companies that held government contracts. Dr Martin Luther King JR. selected Birmingham, Alabama as the location to continue advocating for civil rights. In April of 1963 local law enforcement attacked
In 1941, president Franklin D. Roosevelt signed executive order 8802. Order 8802 prohibited government contractors from engaging in employment discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. This signed executive order was the first ever step to end employment discrimination. Executive order 9981 signed by president Harry S. Truman in 1948, ordered the desegregation of individuals within the armed forces. The document required the equality of treatment and opportunity within the military without regard to color, race, and national origin.
The EEOC laws, or Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, are federal laws that enforce employers to not discriminate against applicants of any background. Discrimination by types such as age, disability, equal pay/compensation, genetic information, harassment, national origin, pregnancy, race/color, religion, retaliation, sex, and sexual harassment are all protected under the EEOC laws. It is also illegal for an employer to “discriminate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.” (EEOC , n.d.) The EEOC laws are to help serve justice and to create an equal work environment for people of any kind. The EEOC wants to accomplish the goal of having every applicant to feel at home without being discriminated against. These laws not only affect an employer hiring an applicant however; it affects them in firing, promoting, harassing, training, wages, and benefits. The EEOC’s role is to help find out if any applicant is being discriminated against and to help
The United Stated is a melting pot. People came from with different background, ethnicity, races, and color of skins joining the workforce. The country has recognized the dynamic perspective and set laws to protect the people. Under the Title VII, The Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions (EEOC) prohibits to discriminate base on race, sex, religion, and national origin in the work place.
While equal rights and equal pay legislation made it illegal to discriminate “based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin“ (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2011b, p. 1), the number of workplace discrimination cases continue to rise and is costing employers more than $319 million in 2010, not counting litigation (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2011a). Many employers have extensive human resource organizations with a sophisticated grasp on the implications of equal rights legislation on employers, that employ professionals, like I/O psychologists and attorneys, to establish fair policies and employment practices, and decrease an employer’s risk of litigation (Aamodt, 2010). In fact, employers often perform statistical analysis of employment practices to understand whether the practice could have an adverse impact against members of a protected class. For example, testing is a practice employers use for employee selection in the hiring process; even when an employment test is determined to be reliable, valid, and cost-efficient, care is taken to assure testing predicts performance equally well for all applications (Aamodt, 2010). Because governments and corporations have a fiduciary duty to citizens and shareholders, employers should continue to care about the issue of adverse impact, but more importantly, both government and corporations have a civil responsibility to treat the members of society fairly, because societal
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has the power to examine charges of discrimination against companies who are protected by the law. The majority of companies with the minimum of 15 employees are covered by the EEOC laws. The laws pertain to all forms of work scenarios; hiring, terminating, wages, training, etc. (EEOC, n.d.).
Discrimination occurs when an employee suffers from unfavorable or unfair treatment due to their race, religion, national origin, disabled or veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Employees who have suffered reprisals for opposing workplace discrimination or for reporting violations to the authorities are also considered to be discriminated against. Federal law prohibits discrimination in work-related areas, such as recruiting, hiring, job evaluations, promotion policies, training, compensation and disciplinary action. (employeeissues.com, 2006)