Workplace discrimination refers to any practice undertaken at a place of work that is aimed at segregating a group of individuals or individual that bears certain characteristics from the rest of the workforce. The supreme court has declared that all the laws that protect workers from discrimination are to be made unconstitutional and the employers adopt their own policies that make all forms of discrimination illegal. The court gave employers freedom to adopt policies and procedures which could be beneficial in promoting diversity of their workforce but not use policies based on immutable characteristics.
Equal Pay Discrimination.
This occurs where women and men who undertake the same job in the workplace are not given equal pay. According to the equal pay Act (29 U.S.C 206(d)), employers are required to give equal pay for equal work for both gender. According to the laws of contract, there is offer and acceptance when an employer is hiring, However, this does not mean that some employees should be paid lower salaries.When this form of discrimination is prohibited, employees feel that they are equally remunerated and treated which may boost productivity in the workplace. There is an exception in the Act where employers can pay the different genders differently based on seniority, merit or incentive system (Cosslett, 2012). This form of discrimination may result into employees going on a go slow because they feel divided and also feel that those who receive higher pay should do more work.
Age discrimination.
This is discriminating an employee based on age and mostly against those who are at least 40 years. Prohibiting this form of discrimination is key in a company because it makes employees feel important due to them being treated equally which gives them more morale to do their work (Haugen & Musser, n.d.). Voluntary prohibition allows the employer to put in place policies that there is no discrimination of such form. However, if such policies are not adopted by the employer, the company might incur more expenses of hiring new employees from time to time since those discriminated against will after some time quit their jobs. If this type of discrimination is prohibited by the employer, it would would be of much benefit since the employer would retain employees af all reproductive age keeping experience as well as energy required at the work place for longer periods.
Discrimination against Americans with disabilities.
This is a discrimination against persons with disability or even those with a history of disability. State workers are protected from this kind of discrimination and cannot sue the state for any damages. This is a problem common in the private sector. Creation of a good corporate social image is one of the benefits of prohibiting this form of discrimination because the community feels represented in the organization. The company can also make use of the special skills that these people have. On the flipside, the employer might have to incur extra cost to employ other workers in case the disabled employee has the skill but their disability will not allow them to do that type of work.
Forms of discrimination that are not covered by federal antidiscrimination laws include;
Religion discrimination.
Religious discrimination is when a person or a group of people are discriminated based on the religious beliefs or the religion they bear. During recruitment, employers tend to ask the about the religion of the job seeker. When the religion of the employer is different from that of the job seeker , the employer might hesitate to hire the guy. These cases are common and though this form of discrimination is not covered by the federal anti discrimination laws so the discrimination might not favour him/her. To ensure that the organization has diversity , employers should employ people from all religions and should desist from making employment decisions based a person’s religious bias (Langwith, 2008). To an employer, this is beneficial because employing people from various religions helps in diversifying the workforce which provides the employees with inter religion knowledge which leads to better cooperation and consequently better performance which translates to higher profits to the organization (Barrett & Davidson, 2016). The employer should not force the employee to adopt another religion unwillingly.
Positive reputation
When an organization adopts hiring and promotion practices that are designed to enhance diversity, it is a reflection of a good working environment with no employment discrimination. This type of environment is what attracts potential employees to such organizations because they are confident that the management treats employees with a sense of equality regardless of gender, race or ethnicity. Other than attracting new potential employees, the current employees tend to be happy in their jobs and ,therefore, it is easier for the organization to retain their top talents for continuous processes in its operation.
Increased productivity
Workplace diversity can increase competitive advantages and increase productivity. The new ideas brought about by a diverse workforce offer solutions to the organizational problems. There is also another aspect of desire to work more efficiently and effectively by the employees because of the morale of the workers (Bell-Rehwoldt, 2005). An organization with a diverse workforce allows the management to implement new skills and practices to achieve more unity in their working teams.
Increased creativity
According to a research conducted by EthnoConnect , a consultancy specializing in diversity within organizations, they observed that a diverse workforce brings about different ideas that enable a company achieve a common goal. This is due to cross interaction within the employees and among various heterogeneous groups (Hockett, 2009). Many employers have benefited from taking ideas from various employees to adopt innovative organizational mechanisms.
Language skills
Many companies have benefited from a diverse workforce by gaining and getting acceptance in the global market. For example, a global company that hires Chinese population as part of their workforce increases its reputation in the Chinese market and because of the language skills, the company can sell more of its products in the country all because of hiring representatives who are fluent in the local language.
Evaluate the ethical considerations of not voluntarily prohibiting the forms of discrimination laws examined in the first part of your report.
Employers may choose to not prohibit the forms of discrimination that are discrimination by age, equal pay and discrimination against people with disabilities (Lockton, 2014). The main reason why an employer may chose this is because of the costs involved. For example, equal pay for both gender may have a negative impact on the company’s bottom line. From the employers point of view, when these policies are implemented it means that for the same position the workers regardless of who is more proactive on the job get equal pay (Hockett, 2009). Mostly, when it comes to stepping up and taking leadership of a group whenever required women tend to shy away, and therefore, the men who have stepped up to take leadership role whenever called upon expect to be paid more. Also older people tend to step up to leadership whenever they are called upon, in fact, leadership comes naturally with age (Hough, 2006). Thus, the employer may voluntarily chose not implement these laws to curb against cases such as in subordination and also preserving respect among employees.
Next, determine the ethical considerations of not voluntarily adopting hiring and promotion practices to diversify the workforce.
Negative influence to other employees is a major consideration why employers may not adopt hiring and promotional practices to diversify the workforce. For example, there are cases where a person who holds certain religious views is incorporated in to the organization are eventually radicalises other employees (Kidner, 2007). Other reasons may be due to the negative impact on the company’s reputation when some people are hired. We live in world where there is a lot of prejudice and discrimination , hence employing certain people where your clients predominantly oppose those type of people may be detrimental to the company’s survival in the area (Hockett, 2009). However, employees are protected from this forms of discrimination in employment law.
An employment contract is used in labour law to detail the responsibilities and rights of the parties to a bargain. Therefore, according to the coantract signed ,the employer should adopt policies and practices that discourage discrimination. Employers can be held liable for acts of discrimination that happen at the work place. All policies that promote equal pay, policies that are against age discrimination and those that discourage against discriminating the disabled are important for the company. They promote a healthy and productive working environment as well as save costs against numerous litigations that may follow. When this policies are put in place productivity is also enhanced. Employers should adopt hiring and promotion practices designed to diversify the workplace because of the positive reputation that the company receives and also the ability to attract and retain talent in the organization.
References
Barrett, M., & Davidson, M. (2016). Gender and communication at work. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Bell-Rehwoldt, S. (2005). Law. Detroit: Lucent Books.
Cosslett, C. (2012). Lawyers at Work. Berkeley, CA: Apress.
Haugen, D., & Musser, S. Discrimination.
Hockett, R. (2009). Law. Chicago: Chicago Review Press.
Hough, A. (2006). Employment law. London: Old Bailey Press.
Kidner, R. (2007). Employment law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Langwith, J. (2008). Discrimination. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.
Lockton, D. (2014). Employment law. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
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