Any employee can encounter demotions, blocked opportunities, docked payrolls and insult. When such aspects of discrimination are directed towards a particular social group of individuals in the workplace due to their identities, an issue known as employee discrimination gets revealed. Regardless of the existing laws prohibiting workplace discrimination, such as the civil right Act of 1964, individuals keep on reporting unfair work treatment by religion, color, national origin, race, and sex. According to Cortina, Rabelo and Holland (2018). Employment discrimination, commonly known as workplace discrimination is any exclusion, distinction or preference made by color, social origin, religion, race, sex, national extraction or political opinion, gender identities, and has an influence of nullifying or impairing equality of treatment or opportunity in occupation or employment. It contains devastating impacts on the victims and the offenders. It may result in poor company reputation, lower employee productivity, and morale, lead to adverse financial effects and raise discrimination complaints and lawsuits (Hagelskamp and Hughes, 2014). Managers and business owners should thus adopt policies that help combat discrimination. Such strategies include following the law, diversifying the workforce, educating the management on harassment and diversity, providing volunteering initiatives, and continuously assessing employee needs.
Introduction
Any employee can encounter demotions, blocked opportunities, docked payrolls and insults. When such aspects of discrimination are directed towards a particular social group of individuals in the workplace due to their identities, an issue known as employee discrimination gets revealed. Regardless of the existing laws prohibiting workplace discrimination, such as the civil right Act of 1964, individuals keep on reporting unfair work treatment by religion, color, national origin, race, and sex. Specifically, in 2014, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission handled 88,778 charges regarding discrimination (Cheung et al., 2016). Such numerous concerns are amplified by the diverse nature of the U.S workforce which comprises of around 21% ethnic minority, 10% disabled and 47% for women (Cheung et al., 2016). This paper seeks to define employment discrimination, analyze bases of employment discrimination as well as the consequences of workplace discrimination. Further, the study identifies key strategies that can significantly lower or stop employment discrimination.
Defining Employment Discrimination
According to Cortina, Rabelo and Holland (2018), employment discrimination, commonly known as workplace discrimination is any exclusion, distinction or preference made by color, social origin, religion, race, sex, national extraction or political opinion, and has an influence of nullifying or impairing equality of treatment or opportunity in occupation or employment. From the definition, one can deduce that there exists a global recognition that there is the prevalence of unfair workplace discriminations amongst individuals of various social groups. Discrimination thus occurs when an individual gets treated less favorably due to some characteristics that are non-related to personal competencies or job requirements. Organizations must respect the non-discrimination principle in all their undertakings. They should use experience, skill, and qualifications as their basis in the recruitment, training, placement, and advancement of all their employees.
Bases of Employment Discrimination
Employers are always prohibited against discriminating individuals by their color, sex, religion, race, or national origin. This is as per the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Moreover, the 1964 Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibited employers from discriminating individuals or employees who are aged 40 years and above. Further, the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act protected females against pregnancy discrimination. The Disability Act of 1990 protected the disabled from getting discriminated against in the workplace environment (Jones et al., 2017). Surprisingly, even with such regulations and laws, employees consistently face discriminations from their employers. Besides, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) individuals, ex-convicts and working parents continue to meet this discrimination regardless of the absence of a regulation to protect them.
Racial Discrimination
Racial discrimination in the workplace takes about 35% of the discrimination charges reported per year (Cheung et al., 2016). The most affected individuals come from racial minorities such as the Latinos, Asian Americans, and the black Americans. Despite equal qualifications, ethnic minorities possess relatively lower chances of receiving interview or job offers than the whites. Racial minority biases are also common in areas such as performance evaluations, job fit, leadership evaluations and promotion opportunities. Individuals from racial minorities also suffer from exclusion from informal and social networks as well as macroaggressions from supervisors.
Sex Discrimination
Sex discrimination involves discrepancies made on the grounds of biological functions and characteristics that differentiate between women and men, as well as the social disparities between women and men. Physical distinction involves job specifications that do not substantially contribute to undertaking the prescribed assignments. These include minimum weight or height requirements that never impact job performances. On the other hand, social distinctions encompass marital status, civil status, maternity and family situations.
Moreover, sex discrimination may take the form of sexual harassment. Actions constituting to sexual harassment include inappropriate remarks or insults towards a specific gender, most specifically the females, paternalistic attitudes that undermine the dignity of women, unwelcomed requests or invitations that are accompanied by threats, as well as inappropriate physical contacts that are linked to caresses, assault, pinching and touching (Combs and Milosevic, 2016).
Statistically, charges related to sex discrimination make up approximately 30% of the reported employment cases yearly (Combs and Milosevic, 2016). Women are the most vulnerable to this type of discrimination as compared to men. Although the 1963 Equal Pay Act protects people from wage discrimination, women remain less paid compared to men. Employers further offer few promotional opportunities to women. It is true that women possess a high probability of being incivility targets than men, and in some cases, certain females remain more vulnerable to incivility than others.
Religious Discrimination
Religious discrimination involves distinctions based on the expression or manifestation of religious beliefs or religious group membership. Religious discrimination also encompasses discrimination against individuals who do not belong to a specific religious community or the atheists. Although this discrimination is not permissible, some instances may be legitimate to impose requirements that restrict the practice of a particular religion. For example, some religion prohibits working on certain days that are different from resting days established by the law, others require dressing codes that do not match workplace safety requirements, others prescribe daily routines or diets that employers may find difficult to accommodate and others stand against oaths that are required to perform or assume certain leadership positions (Jones et al., 2017). Under such circumstances, religious discrimination may get legitimized. This is because, under the conditions mentioned above, the right of employees to practice their religion should get weighed against the actual and minimum requirements as established by law and operational or job requirements.
Religious discrimination in the employment sector takes approximately 4% of the reports of workplace discrimination charges (Cortina, Rabelo and Holland, 2018). In most of the cases, the Jewish and Muslim workers remain the victims. Cheung et al. (2016) argue that Muslim female applicants that wear religious attires receive shorter and negative interactions with hiring executives than those that do not wear such attire. They face further discriminations in requesting for accommodations that do not correspond to the established worksheet by the employers. For instance, Muslim employees may require days or hours off during the period of Ramadhan, and the Jewish employees may also need time off during the Jewish Shabbat which is different from a Sunday.
Age Discrimination
Older workers often encounter problems in occupation and employment opportunities. This is as a result of the prejudices concerning their willingness and capabilities to learn, discounts attributed to their experiences and the pressure from young workers who are comparably cheaper to hire. Nonetheless, young employees may also get subjected to age discrimination especially those under 25 years of age. Young workers may get over-represented in casual works with relatively low benefits, career prospects and training opportunities, low wages, probation periods that are comparably long and admission on flexible contract terms.
Age discrimination accounts for around 18% of the employment discrimination cases (Jones et al., 2017). The older generation is the most vulnerable although the youth may also be subjects of discrimination as earlier stated. The aged are less likely to get hired and promoted. They also receive very harsh performance evaluations.
Disability Discrimination
It accounts for 29% of the reported discrimination cases (Hagelskamp and Hughes, 2014). Disabilities that are capable of evoking discrimination can get grouped into visible or invisible. Visible disabilities are readily seen by others, and they include people using hearing aids or wheelchairs. On the other hand, visual disabilities involve both psychological and physical conditions that do not have visual features that are readily visible. They include psychological disorders and chronic pains. Most of the disability discrimination claims have been attributed to formal discrimination issues like employment terms, accommodations, and hiring issues. Workers with disabilities may even face discrimination from fellow employees when they request for special accommodations in the workplace environment.
National Origin Discrimination
It makes up to 11% of the yearly reported cases (Cortina, Rabelo and Holland, 2018). This form of discrimination directly or indirectly affects immigrants. According to Dietz et al. (2015), asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants are subjects of formal discrimination concerning compensation and wages. Consequently, qualified and documented immigrants possess a higher probability of facing subtle discrimination issues. Moreover, national origin discrimination may significantly depend on the origin country of the immigrant worker. Those from less recognized and undeveloped nations may receive high levels of discrimination compared to those from the well-recognized and developed countries.
LGTB Workers
It constitutes the lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual class of workers. Although the U.S has no well-established employment laws regarding this class, some of the states have already imposed legislation to protect them against employment discrimination (Cheung et al., 2016). LGTB workers face formal discrimination with the gays reporting to receive comparably lower wages than the heterosexual men. LGTB workers relatively receive few callbacks from potential employers, few promotion opportunities, and low-performance evaluations. They also face exclusions from informal groups and harassment during working hours. These individuals may also get demoted or suffer termination as a result of their gender identities.
Consequences of Discrimination in the Workplace
Employment discrimination contains devastating impacts on the victims and the offenders. It may result in poor company reputation, lower employee productivity, and morale, lead to adverse financial effects and raise discrimination complaints and lawsuits (Hagelskamp and Hughes, 2014).
Poor Company Reputation
When a company discriminates against its workers, they will disclose it to their family members, friends, and even the media. When such accusations spread to many individuals, the organization's reputation is considerably damaged. Customers will shift to other companies that treat their employees fairly and equally. Moreover, only a few qualified applicants will seek employment in such an organization and thus affect its productivity. Also, investors may shift their resources to other organizations that have a good reputation regarding fair practices.
Effect on Employee Productivity and Morale
Discrimination adversely affects employee morale and productivity. They may feel that rewards, promotions, and benefits do not depend on performance and thus stop performing their duties correctly. Also, workers may stop competing for promotional opportunities as they may feel that the winners are always pre-determined through discriminatory practices (Dietz et al., 2015). Employee turnover also increases as workers look for organizations that offer equal opportunities. Workers lose interest in the assignments and their self-esteem significantly gets lowered. The result is failing to complete assignments and generally poor performance.
Financial Effects
When workers quit an organization as a result of discrimination, employers must spend financial resources seeking for their replacements. Also, at times when the morale of employees is down, employers and managers often incur high costs to hire team-building experts to encourage and motivate employees. Moreover, acquiring fresh employees strains the organizations' budget as they have to educate and train the recruits on policies and technologies used in the company (Cortina, Rabelo and Holland, 2018). In short, discrimination practices raise the expenditures of an organization.
Discrimination Complaints and Lawsuits
Discriminated employees have the right to file charges against the discriminating organization with the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). The body then examines the corporates' employment practices such as promotions, firing, and hiring, job advertisements and recruitments, benefits and compensations as well as training programs. If found guilty, the EEOC attempts to arrive at a settlement or conciliatory agreement that often includes promotion, back pay, reinstatement or hiring (Combs and Milosevic, 2016). Moreover, the organization may pay court fees and additional disciplinary damages for mental anguish and caused inconveniences. If the body fails to arrive at a conciliatory agreement, a federal lawsuit may get filed by either the discriminated individual or the EEOC.
Strategies to Halt Employment Discrimination
As discussed above, workplace discrimination significantly affects the performance and continuity of organizations. Therefore, managers and business owners should adopt policies that help combat discrimination. Such strategies include following the law, diversifying the workforce, educating the management on harassment and diversity, providing volunteering initiatives, and continuously assessing employee needs.
Following The Law
Efforts to end employment discrimination begins by ensuring that employers and employees know and follow the law. Workers are entitled to the right of working in environments that are free from harassments due to sex, ability, age, ethnicity, race, and religion (Hagelskamp and Hughes, 2014). The Civil Rights Act give pregnant women, the aged and veterans special accommodations that employers must provide when a need arises. Therefore, employers should take note of the rights of employees and ensure that they treat them per the provisions of the law.
Diversification of the Workforce
Employers should strive to hire a diverse group of workers. These will assist in stopping discrimination since the employees and employers will learn to appreciate and understand members of other cultures, ages, religion and race (Dietz et al., 2015). Further, such a strategy will improve customer relations as the employees will learn how to treat people based on their individual and group differences.
Educating the Management on Harassment and Diversity
Firstly, employees should always get provided with the relevant information relating to the stop of employment discrimination. Secondly, managers should ensure that each business initiative they conduct does not involve discrimination. Actions such as firing and hiring should get done through the application of well-laid procedures and the requirements of the law. Managers should further participate in sensitivity workshops and seminars that handle discrimination issues (Combs and Milosevic, 2016). More significantly employees should receive diversity and harassment policies to ensure that they are aware of the actions they should take if they feel discriminated in any way.
Consistent Assessment of Workers Needs
Managers or employers should continuously obtain feedback from their employees to gather information concerning their daily operations and interactions in the organization. Such information may investigate issues such as gossips about a worker's disability, racial prejudices, and whether the workers feel satisfied with how the management carries out its duties (Dietz et al., 2015). This will not only reduce the prevalence of workplace discrimination but also raise the productivity and morale of employees as they will feel more considered.
Conclusion
Workplace discrimination is a prevalent condition in the labor force sector. Despite the establishment of numerous Acts inhibiting the issue, employers and employees still discriminate against fellow employees by gender, race, religion, national origin, disability and many other aspects. The victims undergo embarrassing situations that significantly affect their work performance and morale. This in turn adversely affects the performance of the organization. Therefore, managers, employees and business owners should collectively ensure that they do not engage in any activity that makes other individuals feel discriminated.
References
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Combs, G. M., " Milosevic, I. (2016). Workplace discrimination and the wellbeing of minority women: Overview, prospects, and implications. In Handbook on Well-Being of Working Women (pp. 17-31). Springer, Dordrecht.
Cortina, L. M., Rabelo, V. C., " Holland, K. J. (2018). Beyond blaming the victim: Toward a more progressive understanding of workplace mistreatment. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 11(1), 81-100.
Dietz, J., Joshi, C., Esses, V. M., Hamilton, L. K., " Gabarrot, F. (2015). The skill paradox: Explaining and reducing employment discrimination against skilled immigrants. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(10), 1318-1334.
Hagelskamp, C., " Hughes, D. L. (2014). Workplace discrimination predicting racial/ethnic socialization across African American, Latino, and Chinese families. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 20(4), 550.
Jones, K. P., Arena, D. F., Nittrouer, C. L., Alonso, N. M., " Lindsey, A. P. (2017). Subtle discrimination in the workplace: A vicious cycle. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 10(1), 51-76.
