Workforce Diversity

Workforce Diversity

By

Human Resource Management

July 24, 2006

Through the years the American workforce has become increasingly diverse; caused in large part by the globalization of the American economy, and the growth of the workforce in the areas of minority, women, and immigrant employment. Traditionally, individuals have been expected to assimilate into the standard way of doing things, accepting the burden of change and adjustment. However, this is no longer the case. This idea has been replaced with a workforce of individuals that instead chooses to maintain their individual identities, placing the burden of adjustment back on the employer. While a fair portion of the changes in cultural and social acceptance comes from the day-to-day activities of societal involvement, this is not enough. To achieve a truly diverse workforce it has been necessary to take the further steps of legislation and cultural awareness training. Although these changes have brought some positive results, whether they have accomplished their long-term goals has yet to be determined.

While the workforce has become more diverse, the thoughts and feelings of many of those within it have remained caught in the past, making it necessary for legislation to try and accomplish what common sense should have. Employment discrimination, or the unequal treatment of employees or job applicants on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, or disability, is addressed by several federal statutes: The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and most importantly, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as its amendments, ÐŽ§prohibits employment discrimination against employees, job applicants, and union members on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, and gender at any stage or employment.ЎЁ It also protects employees from sexual harassment, as well as online harassment through inappropriate email or online information. In one such case in 1983, Tammy Blakely, the first female airbus pilot for Continental, filed suit alleging sexual harassment and sex discrimination under Title VII. Continental allegedly did not respond to her repeated complaints about pornography left in the cockpit by male pilots. While the lawsuit was still pending in 1995, various co-workers posted a series of unflattering messages concerning Blakely on an Internet bulletin board for pilots called the Crew Members Forum. Blakely sued seven pilots in state court, claiming that defamatory statements were published on the system. She also sued Continental, arguing that the airline was liable for the defamatory statements giving rise to the hostile work environment.

Before an alleged victim of discrimination can bring a suit against an employer they must first file a claim with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, the entity responsible for monitoring compliance with Title VII. The EEOC may investigate the dispute and try to get both parties to consent to an out-of-court settlement. If not successful, the EEOC may then file a suit on behalf of the employee against the employer. If the EEOC decides not to investigate, the victim may bring their own lawsuit against the employer.

The EEOC does not investigate every discrimination claim, but rather only those that are of a high priority, such as the firing of an employee for submitting a claim to the EEOC, and those claims involving certain types of discrimination such as disparate-treatment discrimination and disparate-impact discrimination. Disparate-treatment discrimination occurs when an employer intentionally discriminates against employees who are members of one or more protected classes, such as the denial of an employment opportunity to an individual based on the color of their skin. Disparate-impact discrimination occurs when certain employer practices, which do not appear discriminatory, have a discriminatory effect. An example of disparate-impact discrimination is the landmark case of Griggs v. Duke Power Company.

A case heard by the Supreme Court in which the plaintiff argued that his employerÐŽ¦s requirement that coal handlers be high school graduates was unfairly discriminatory. In finding for the plaintiff, the Court ruled that discrimination need not be overt to be illegal, that employment practices must be related to job performance, and that the burden of proof is on the employer to show that hiring standards are job related.

Liability for employers under Title VII can be extensive, including job reinstatement, retroactive promotions, back pay, and damages. While compensatory damages are only available in cases of intentional discrimination, punitive damages can be gained against a private employer if they have acted with malice or reckless indifference to an individualÐŽ¦s rights. The sum of damages against an employer is limited to $50,000 against those with one hundred or fewer employees, and $300,000 against those with more than five hundred employees.

Of all the types of discrimination that exist, age discrimination has the potential to be the most widespread, due to the fact that anyone could become a victim at some point in their life. Further, it is also reasonable to expect that cases involving age discrimination will increase as the baby-boomers get closer to retirement. Addressing this issue is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967, which prohibits employment discrimination based on age against individuals forty and older. Many cases of alleged age discrimination have been brought against employers who have replaced older, higher-salaried employees with younger less-expensive ones. Some common fact patterns that age discrimination follows are:

1. Getting Older. After being employed for a number of years, the older worker starts getting poor performance evaluations and receives negative attention. This continues for a while, then some incident or event is used as the basis for dismissal.

2. Getting broken. This is similar to the ÐŽ§getting olderЎЁ pattern, but an injury or illness is used as the vehicle to remove the employee.

3. Reduction in Force. Downsizings are used by individual supervisors or group managers as opportunities to act out unlawful prejudices and stereotypes.

4. Downsizing of One. The excuse of downsizing is used to remove an older worker, but it turns