Discrimination

"The only way to end discrimination in the workplace is through legislation". Discuss.

Discrimination can be defined as "Any act or failure to act, impermissible based in whole or in part on a person's race, colour, religion, national origin, sex, age, physical or mental handicap, and/or reprisal, that adversely affects privileges, benefits, working conditions, and results in disparate treatment, or has a disparate impact on employees or applicants." By the end of 2006 the UK discrimination laws will fall within the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. The UK following directives new European directives has had to amend and extend its discrimination laws and policies as a result of which discrimination has now become a serious offence making the European court of Justice the final court of appeal. Apart from legislation there are other ways and methods of dealing with discrimination in the workplace. the ACAS suggests different ways of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), one school of thought supports the managing diversity approach that argues that the only way around such problems is to change the attitudes as misconceptions of such groups and in recent years a new more extreme school of thought promotes positive or reverse discrimination against the groups who have been historically discriminated against. It's only in recent year that we are finally beginning to understand the subtle psychological causes and forms of discrimination, most of the more blatant forms of discrimination have been significantly reduced through legislation. In the long run however in order to completely eliminate discrimination we would have to find more innovative ways of educating employees against discrimination and making them more apt to work in the multi-cultural, and diverse workplace of the future. In this essay we shall first explore various types of discrimination and we shall take a look at the Legislation associated with them. Then we will take a look at the other techniques that have and are being utilised to prevent discrimination in the workplace as well as settle the disputes out of the legal system.

The main types of discrimination in the workplace are Sex or gender, Sexual orientation or sexuality, discrimination against Race, Religion, the Disabled, Age discrimination, trade union status and finally discrimination against Ex-offenders.

Discrimination on the grounds of Sex or Gender and Martial status:

The two main acts that govern sex discrimination in the UK are the Sex discrimination act 1975 and the Equal Pay act 1970.The Sex discrimination act was designed to complement the Equal pay act 1970 by dealing with non-contractual forms of sex discrimination such as employee selection, provision of training opportunities, promotion, access to benefits and facilities and dismissal. Sex discrimination at work is unlawful in all parts of employment. The law covers recruitment, terms and conditions, pay and benefits, status, training, promotion and transfer opportunities, right through to redundancy and dismissal. The equal pay act was the first legislation which was pro workplace equality between the sexes. This act is concerned with removing unjustifiable differences between the treatment meted out by employers in terms of pay rates and other conditions of employment.

Equal opportunities laws aim to create a Ð''level playing field' so that people are employed, paid, trained and promoted only because of their skills, abilities and how they do their job.

There are four types of discrimination; direct discrimination is treating one unfairly or differently because of ones sex, because of ones marital status or because of ones gender reassignment. Indirect discrimination would be putting one at a disadvantage because of certain working practices or rules, for example setting a minimum height requirement. Harassment qualifies as behaving in an offensive manner or encouraging other people to do so for example making sexually explicit remarks and or gestures. Victimisation would be to treat one unfairly for making a prior complaint about discrimination.

Since these law have come into effect the differences on grounds of pay between men and women in the work environment have become smaller however still according to the EOC commission women earn on an average 17% less per hour than their male co workers. As compared to 2004-2005 when the gap between men and women's full time hourly pay was almost 29%.Now almost two fifths of professional jobs are held by women as compared to around one in ten prior to these legislations.

In a recent case Wal-Mart employee, Betty Dukes had filed a case accusing the company of 'sex discrimination in promotions, training and pay.' Many more employees joined Dukes, and by May 2003, the case had taken the shape of a class action suit after the plaintiffs asked a Federal Judge to allow the case to proceed on behalf of more than 1.5 million women. Wal-Mart had for long been accused of not treating its female employees in a socially responsible manner. A study of Wal-Mart's own employee data (conducted by some experts hired by the plaintiffs) revealed that women had been discriminated against in many instances. Even the company's internal memos revealed that Wal-Mart was far behind its competitors in promoting women at the workplace. Industry observers said that the company's competitors had employed more female managers in 1975 than Wal-Mart did even in 1999. Wal-Mart categorically denied that its labour practices were unethical and illegal and that its employee hiring and promotional practices were biased.

Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation:

Under the law discrimination against sexual orientation or Ð''perceived' sexual orientation is disallowedÐ'- including orientation towards someone of the same sex (lesbian/gay), opposite sex (heterosexual) or both sexes (bisexual). Since December 2005, same-sex couples can register a civil partnership. The law states that you cannot be disadvantaged by a policy at work because of your sexual orientation. The law also protects from harassment, victimization or bullying.

Discrimination against race:

The London region is, by some distance, the most ethnically diverse in Britain. People from ethnic minority groups made up 40% of its population at the time of the 2001 census.

In the UK race discrimination law is governed by the Race Relations act 1976.This law applies to all workers except those recruited to work overseas or in private households. The 1976 Race Relations Act makes it unlawful for an