A) According to U.S. EEOC (para 2-5), hostile work environment is a situation in the workplace where an employee finds it hard to work due to harassment from other workers in the workplace. This is usually severe and pervasive. Harassment can be in the form of bullying, fondling, and the use of offensive language and remarks. Sexual harassment refers to bullying in the workplace in relation to an individual’s sex. It mostly affects female employees whereby they are coerced to have sexual relations with their colleagues in the work place. Sexual harassment takes the form of physical or verbal nature. For example, a negative comment based on sex or fondling an employee. Quid pro-Quo sexual harassment occurs in employment when a senior employee makes sexual advances at a junior employee in return for a favor. Its main difference from the other forms of sexual harassment is that it comes from an authoritative figure in the employment. The both forms of sexual harassment make working environment hostile for the employees.
B) Age Discrimination Act is a law that protects individuals from discrimination as they look for employment based on their age (EEOC para 2). On most of the cases, the discrimination involves the treatment of individuals unfavorably due to their age. The discrimination is either direct or indirect. A direct age discrimination arises whereby old people fail to secure employment due to unfair work policies. Indirect discrimination arises where employees are required to fulfill certain fitness requirement that automatically locks out the old people.
C) Pregnancy Discrimination Act 1978 is a law prohibiting employers from failing to employee potential female employees on the basis of pregnancy (EEOC para 3). However, organizations with less than 15 employees are not held captive by the act. The act ensures that no female should be dismissed from employment due to childbirth and pregnancy cases. Employees are required to give maternity leave and medical cover to their employees who have pregnancy cases. However, abortion complications are not covered for compensation unless the life of the worker is under threat.
D) Employment at Will is a term used to guide the contract between an employee and the employer (NCSL para 1-3). An employer in the US is at liberty to terminate an employment contract with an employee for any legal reason. The employee can also terminate the contract at will, and both incur no legal liability.
E) Norris-LaGuardia Act of 1932 outlaws any agreement between an employee and an employer that forbids an employee from joining a labor union in order to gain employment (Society for Human Resource Management para 2-3). It also protects the workers from the use of court injunctions against their agitations in labor disputes. The act promotes the employees liberty and the right to organize themselves in the workplace.
F) Fair Labor Standards Act protects the rights of employees against unscrupulous employers. The act ensures fair labor standards by imposing a minimum wage, record keeping, overtime pay, and child labor standards (United States Department of Labor para 1-3).
G) Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in employment based on an individual’s color, race, sex, national origin, and religion (EEOC para 1). The act brought to an end the pervasive discrimination that existed prior to 1964. Racial segregation was prevalent in every aspect of the American society such as in education, employment, politics, and so forth.
H) Americans with Disabilities Act protects the rights of the disabled in the US. The disabled ought not to be discriminated unjustifiably in transport, employment, government activities, and accommodation in public (United States Department of Labor para 2-5). For example, they should be employed on equal criteria as other people.
I) Disparate treatment in employment is the unlawful discrimination of an employee in the workplace (NFHA para 2-4). In such cases, a person is treated differently due to their characteristics such as sex, color, and so forth. Disparate impact, on the other hand, refers to the practices and impacts of adverse treatment of a group of a protected class of people in areas such as housing and employment. For example, high rates of unemployment among the African Americans.
Works Cited
NCSL. "At-Will Employment - Overview." Legislative News, Studies and Analysis | National Conference of State Legislatures, www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/at-will-employment-overview.aspx.
NFHA. "Disparate Impact." National Fair Housing Alliance > Home, www.nationalfairhousing.org/PublicPolicy/DisparateImpact/tabid/4264/Default.aspx.
Society for Human Resource Management. "Norris-LaGuardia Act of 1932." SHRM, www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/norris-laguardiaactof1932.aspx.
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "Sexual Harassment." EEOC Home Page, www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sexual_harassment.cfm.
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)." EEOC Home Page, www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/adea.cfm.
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "The Pregnancy Discrimination Act." EEOC Home Page, www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/pregnancy.cfm.
United States Department of Labor. "Americans with Disabilities Act." United States Department of Labor, www.dol.gov/general/topic/disability/ada.
United States Department of Labor. "Compliance Assistance - Wages and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) - Wage and Hour Division (WHD) - U.S. Department of Labor." United States Department of Labor, www.dol.gov/whd/flsa/.
