In an increasingly global world there is no room for discrimination at the work place. We explore here the statutory laws in place in Ireland as it increasingly embraces a multi-cultural society.
2.0 Nine Grounds of Discrimination
Ireland prohibits discrimination as enacted by the twin acts of “The Equal Status Act” and “Employment Equality Act.” These Acts are based on nine parameters. This is to ensure an equal platform for its citizens especially when it comes to employment. These are:
Discrimination based on gender: A man, a woman or a transsexual person.
Or discrimination on marital status: Single, married, separated, divorced or widowed.
Or discrimination based on age especially as an employment criterion.
Or discrimination based on family status: Pregnant, a parent of a person under 18 years or the resident primary career or parent of a person with a disability.
Or discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation: Gay, lesbian, bisexual or heterosexual.
Or religious orientation: Different religious belief, background, outlook or none.
Or discrimination based on race; different ethnicity, skin complexions, nationalities etc.
Or discrimination against the Travelers, who are trying to integrate with locals.
And lastly discrimination on grounds of disability: This is broadly defined including people with physical, intellectual, learning, cognitive or emotional disabilities and a range of medical conditions.
3.0 Various Types of Discrimination
The Irish Equal Status Act defines direct discrimination as “the treatment of a person in a less favorable way than another person is, has been or would be treated, in a similar situation on any of the nine grounds which exists, existed and may exist in the future; or is charged to the person concerned (The Equality Authority, 2008). On the other hand indirect discrimination is described as a favorable treatment by impact or effect (The Equality Authority, 2008).
These laws are enacted to ensure that these nine parameters are no grounds for discrimination; as these parameters bear no effect in the performance of a job. By adhering to these norms, Corporate and Organization can foster excellence and social justice. It is important to generate confidence that talent and performance alone counts.
Employers are wary of violating any act of discrimination. They can ill-afford any negative publicity and impact on their global operations. Most companies even don’t ask for marital status and family situation in their application forms or refer to them at the interviews. The sexual orientation is of no interest to them.
Age discrimination is one of the ticklish and primary concerns of HR departments at recruitments. The law says that age should not be a factor in recruitment and equal opportunities are meted out to the young or old regardless. The determination of salary must be in accordance with qualification and experience and not age; the same goes for annual leaves, health benefits and shifts among others. Performance alone counts and it is against the law to patronize or disfavor any age-group.
The Irish equal status forbids discrimination of those with physical, medical, emotional and mental disabilities. Physical disability rights include non- discrimination at recruitment and providing facilities for them. For example a storey building may need a ramp, or separate toilet facilities and assistive technologies wherever possible. The law recognizes their right to equal employment and being treated equally. They must be considered for any jobs barring those where their disability adversely impacts the performance of the job.
Race discrimination is an extremely sensitive issue. This can offset through telephonic or internet chat interviews so as mitigate any influence this issue may hold of employment. In an increasingly global economy, corporate are more than amenable to have different mix of race on their rolls. Discrimination on the ground of gender, traveler community and religion could occur in the work place as well. These are against the Irish laws too.
Ireland believes that a diverse group brings in better perspectives and synergies besides setting examples of good corporate governance. All elements of an organization are better off learning to accept and accommodate individual’s differences in the cross-cultural world.
4.0 Corporations and Legislations
The Employment Equality Act for instance has highlighted the following for strict obedience by organizations and employers (The Equality Authority, 2008):
• Encourage equality.
• Forbid certain kinds of discrimination (with some exemptions) across nine grounds.
• Forbid sexual harassment and harassment.
• Forbid victimization.
• Provide reasonable accommodation of people with disabilities.
Stress on vicarious liability.
The promotion of equality is to ensure a level playing ground for all irrespective of race, gender, age and religion. Organizations must ensure that both its potential and actual employees are treated equally on opportunities, workload, compensation in an environment that fosters talent and fair play. To facilitate this, organizations are required to orient the employees and familiarize themselves with the rules, regulations and conditions of services. These statutory laws must be available to every employee in the organization. There must be clear set of guidelines on matters relating to discipline, promotion and all other opportunities. The organizations are required to maintain written records of compliance as proof of having been on the right side of the law especially against complaints.
Under the Irish equal status act, the following actions must be avoided by all operating organizations.
Harassment: “Harassment is any form of unwanted behavior related to any of the discriminatory grounds and Sexual harassment is any form of unwanted verbal, nonverbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature” (The Equality Authority, 2008). Harassment is a violation of the person’s dignity by degrading and humiliating his or her worth. It could also result in psychological problems. Harassment includes spoken words, to gestures, written words, pictures etc intended to harass.
Discrimination is a deprivation a person feels on account of his or her belief, color, and gender among several others (The Equality Authority, 2008). It can be either direct or indirect and often has wider ramifications and varying interpretations. So a case-by-case approach to violation or compliance is required.
Victimization refers to making somebody suffer as because you either don’t like them, their opinion, their beliefs or some other unexplained matter (The Equality Authority, 2008). Bullying (continuous act) on the other hand is the use of one’s strength either physical or otherwise to inflict undesired acts on someone either by action, words or assigning work (Torrington et.al 2008, p.530).
High-level management must be aware of vicarious liability because they could be held responsible for their employee’s acts as well. For example, John discriminates against Emma at the work place based on gender, the manager responsible for John will be held responsible for John’s action, unless the manager proves that he/she took practical steps to prevent this action.
In conclusion there are clear legislations regarding the equal treatment of people in the workplace and avoidance of discrimination in Ireland. The organizations are mandated to strictly adhere to avoid legal suits. Employees are supposed to be treated with dignity under these provisions and any action considered, otherwise may attract the provisions of these statutory laws within the boundaries of Ireland.
