Introduction
Discrimination is the process of excluding a person based on a multitude of factors not limited to just age, sex or ethnicity. Just about 200 years ago, in 1808, The Congress banned the importation of slaves from Africa and they were given voting rights in 1870 with the Fifteenth Amendment [1]. Less than 100 years ago, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women the right to vote in 1920 [2]. Even more recently, the Age Discrimination Act was introduced in 1967 by the Department of Labour to protect the aging population on the basis of employment [3]. Although our society has made vast progress by enacting equal opportunity laws, a lot of improvement is yet to be made before employment diversity increases, particularly in the aviation industry.
The Federal Aviation Administration is the governing force of Aviation, dealing with all aspects of safety, innovation and aviation related regulations. They proudly advertise on their employment opportunity site by saying “our inclusive culture is defined by our values and we continuously seek employees from all backgrounds with distinctive ideas, perspectives….and talents” [4]. There are numerous employee programs designed for minority groups such as FAA GLOBE- Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Employees, NBCFAE- National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees with Disabilities and PWC- Professional Women Controllers. They strive to provide the resources necessary for the minority groups to facilitate their
Legislation by state and federal arms of government has made discrimination in workplaces illegal. This piece of legislation goes further to stipulate the rights and responsibilities of both the subordinates and their employers in the workplace. This legislation aims to bring sanity in the workplace by ensuring that both groups are accountable.
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.
I will discuss the legislation and regulations the United States Government enacted during the 20th Century to eliminate discriminatory practices by organizations. Through unions, employees grouped together to fight and change hazardous working conditions by lobbying management and the United States Government. Change is necessary and often met with steep opposition, and unions dealt with legislators that worked to prevent change or silence the complaints raised by lobbyist. Minority and women workers overcame the opposition and continued to fight for better protections and regulations that ultimately help grow the economy while equipping workers with the necessary skills to advance into management positions.
Before, going into this we need to look at the past discriminative policies adopted many companies, responsible for many acts of discrimination against minorities. Menial and low level jobs were offered to certain ethnic and minority groups. Even, woman was denied certain job categories on the ground of strength and their capabilities. This discriminatory policy adopted for so many decade has led to a situation where there cannot be a level playing field without taking certain affirmative action.
Business environments today display diversity, a numerical composition that reflects different kinds of people, such as men and women of different ethnic origins, educational experiences, and professional backgrounds (Beamish, Morrison, Inkpen, & Rosenzweig, 2003). A vast amount of organizations are emulating a diverse workforce. Fair treatment of employees is the responsibility of the human resource management team within a firm. Footsteps of past generations are the facilitating mechanism allowing today’s generation to participate in a safe and fair workplace. Specific rules and regulations assist in equal employment opportunities for every employee. The Equal Employment
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
Discrimination in the workplace is typified by failure to treat individuals equally due to biases against various group membership (Triana, Jayasinghe, & Pieper, 2015). The United States enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964, known as Title VII, to outlaw workplace discrimination of individuals with respect to compensation, terms, conditions of employment, or privileges of employment because of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. Following Title VII, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was established to enforce Title VII protocols in the public and private sector (Crumpacker & Crumpacker, 2007). Proceeding 1964, several addendums were legislated to include protection against discrimination for individuals with respect to: sexual orientation, age, disability, pregnancy, and genetic information (Brooks, Doughtery, & Price, 2015). The engagement of any employer in discrimination against members of any previously listed affiliations is not only deemed unethical, but is also considered unlawful in the United States.
Modood et al (1997) has noted that discrimination whether it being direct or indirect, individual or institutional, still appears a powerful constraint on career prospect
Racial discrimination has been a major issue since the colonial era and the slave era. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the United States abolished slavery and gave blacks the legal right to join the workforce. Workplace discrimination occurs when employers treat certain potential or current employees unfairly because of various issues, including age, race, gender, disability, nationality, religion and pregnancy. Discrimination also takes place when men and women working for the same employer do not receive equal pay for equal work. Under job discrimination laws, it is illegal for employers to engage in any of these practices. Blacks and other minority have faced many racial discrimination issues in the workplace such as harassment, landing a job, and not receiving promotions even if they have all of the qualifications. According to Heathfield, Human Resources Expert, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-352) outlawed the unequal application of voter registration requirements and discrimination in public facilities, in government, and in employment. Specifically, for employers, in the Civil Rights Act, Title 7 guaranteed equal opportunity in employment. The Civil Rights Act also established the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) to "promote equal opportunity in employment through administrative and judicial enforcement of the federal civil rights laws and through education and technical assistance”. Every employee and employer should be aware of
In today’s time people have notice the spread of violence and constitutional controversy across the United States. People are beginning to feel betrayed by the political leaders we like to call the government. Discrimination is a problem that many people come across in everyday life. Discrimination is an action that denies social participation or human rights to categories of people based on prejudice. The most known types of the discrimination people face today include race, religion and sexual orientation. (U.S Employment) Race discrimination includes someone treating another unfairly because he/she is of a certain race.
Employers in today’s job force should take heed and make all possible efforts to avoid any type of discrimination in their company, not just age discrimination. Risk management teams should be put in place in the human resource departments and should work closely with the executive managers to create an environment that does not promote or tolerate discrimination of any kind. This would not only improve the culture of the company but would reduce the unnecessary risk of discrimination lawsuits. In conclusion, not only is discrimination degrading and hurtful, but for an organization it is illegal, costly, and disrespectful. The Supreme Court recognized the discrimination and that it was inexcusable no matter the “after-acquired evidence” against the plaintiff and ruled in accordance of this in the McKennon vs Nashville Banner Publishing Co
This type of system is usually initiated by government, or as a result of pressure groups and lobbyists campaigning for a particular disadvantaged group. It is usually found where disparities and imbalances in employment exist as a result of discriminatory practices on the basis of race and color, gender, disability, or any other unfair grounds not related to the job. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, as stated by Desario and Slack, “outlawed discrimination in public accommodations, voting, education, employment, and the utilization of public funds (Farazmand 2007, 355). The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 which extended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requirements and it’s commission “was established to enforce Title VII, the employment section of the Act, and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance to enforce the nondiscrimination requirements applied to government contractors” (Farazmand 2007, 355) on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, or national origin. Desario and Slack argue that “following the intent of the Fourteenth Amendment, affirmative action meant public policies that afforded individuals opportunity without discrimination.” (Farazmand, 2007, 356). Later on President Kennedy used the term “affirmative action” in context with racial discrimination and therefore, the goal of affirmative action would “shift from equality of opportunity to equality of outcome” (Farazmand, 2007, 357). Affirmative Action is a highly controversial policy. Its guidelines and policies have resulted in many important changes in the selection process. They have forced “public jurisdictions and public personnel professionals to carefully examine existing selection procedures and adapt them to the requirements of affirmative action” (Rosenbloom, 1985,
The topic of minorities in the workforce and how the struggle to accomplish equal treatment in today’s workforce is nothing new to our society. For centuries we have been concerned that by bringing together our different backgrounds, skills, and experiences, as well as the many businesses of this great
Discrimination in the workplace occurs when an employee experiences harsh or unfair treatment due to their race, religion, national origin, disabled or veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Discrimination is one of the biggest problems people face in the workplace and it must be dealt with forcefully.
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)