Abstract
Equal Opportunity is the right of every human. Every person enjoys the right to equal representation in all walks of life and is liable to legislation if these rights are oppressed. Equal Employment Opportunity is a concept based on equality rights at the work place. Equal Employment Opportunity Council is the governing body that assesses the rights of an individual at the work place. The following article is discussion of EEO laws and procedures recommended by the EEOC for individuals to protect their rights against discrimination at the work place.
Keywords: disparate, equality, representation, laws
Introduction
All humans are born equal for the law. Laws are made and interpreted so that all may get a fair share of the rights they possess. However, humans have subjected each other to discrimination throughout the history of mankind. The medieval and pre-modern world saw discrimination of all types, from caste, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation and the type of employment a person chose to follow. Though the modern world has become liberal at what profession a person can take, discrimination is still prevalent due to old mindsets handed down from generations. Employment is by far one of the most important phases of a person’s life. It is the time when people earn, grow professionally, gain experiences and get known by the profession they choose to follow. However, it is entirely the choice of a person to choose the kind of work they do. Discrimination at the work place is a direct violation of a person’s choice of profession (Jenkins & Pigram, 2005). The need of the hour is equal employment opportunities for all. The following paper is a discussion of how equal employment opportunities at the work place are a right for every person, why people need to be aware of the discrimination and what legal actions they can take against them.
Discussion
Discrimination is the act of favoring or rejecting individuals on a certain set of prejudices. These prejudices maybe arise from social perceptions or may plainly indicate personal inclinations. However, discrimination is a direct violation of the right to Equality. Discrimination between employees at the work place is a common issue in many professions. Although preference of employing an individual based on a particular set of attributes and skills is the right of an employer but discrimination between employees or prospective employees on the basis of certain mind sets is the breach of rights for the affected individuals.
Discrimination amongst employees can happen on the basis of many factors. Employees often report varied causes of discrimination, which may arise due to personal or generalized views of the employers or fellow employees. In general, employees report being discriminated on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disabilities, or previous experiences especially in the case of ex-military men and veterans. A discussion of the reportedly general reasons for discrimination follows;
- On the basis of one’s skin color, ethnicity or race
In a multi-cultural working environment people from different origins of birth may come together to work (Parekh, 2000). Employees report experience discrimination on the basis of their ethnicity or their skin color or the race of humanity they belong to.
- Gender, especially in the case of pregnant women
Some employers prefer to keep male candidates, while some prefer putting female employees. Women are also subject to sexual harassment and nepotism at the work place. Women also report experiencing a higher amount of discrimination on the basis of their pregnancy; or the fact that they may get pregnant during the course of their employment.
- Age, as employers prefer young people in comparison to middle aged and older candidates
Employers sometimes prefer to keep younger people as younger employees come with the prospect of lesser salary expectancy as compared to older more experienced candidates. Sometimes employers prefer to keep younger people only because they do not wish to keep older people as employees for any number reasons.
- Individuals who have physical disabilities
Employees with physical disabilities or deformities are discriminated at the work place by their employers, on the basis that they may be dysfunctional, less efficient or even displeasing in appearance to the employer.
- Specific religions or religious beliefs
Some employers may prefer employing individuals with certain religious persuasions, or may completely reject individuals from a particular religion completely.
- Marital Status of the employee
With some employers preferring to employee unmarried or single people or vice versa, employees discriminated because of their marital status. Employers also prefer their employees not to marry a colleague and in the event this happens thefemale employee is asked to leave the job
- Sexual orientation of the person
Although present at some places in the States, people who have different sexual orientations may get discriminated from other employees, as employers may prefer keeping employees at the workplace who are sexually straight instead of homosexuals etc.
- Discrimination with ex-military or war veteran candidates
Ex-military professionals and war veterans have difficulty in finding jobs after their military careers end as employers prefer employees with more main stream qualifications at the work place.
Any person who has faced discrimination on the basis of the above mentioned scenarios can seek to get legal action against the employer practicing such discrimination.
Issues
Equal Employment Opportunity
The US Law dictates that all individuals seeking employment must be given a fair opportunity to depict their skills. These laws demand that employment mechanisms must be made in such a way that all individuals are gauged on the basis of academic merit and skills required by the occupational only, irrespective of their race, sex, age, physical health or any other parameter described in the previous section. There is also a provision to employee women and minority to groups to bridge the gap of number of people represented in the work force of an organization.
At a personal level, there have been certain instances of discrimination amongst the selection of employees at certain points of time. Employers prefer to keep employees of Caucasian ethnicity over other races, especially the Afro-Americans. Some employers also prefer to interview and interact with only female candidates who carry a single relationship status over women who are married and have children to support. There are ample of examples on a daily basis that show such discrimination, though sometimes the discrimination may not be obvious to the employees at the initial stage of employment. However, it is illegal to discriminate amongst the individuals of the workforce on the basis of above stated discriminations in the United States of America.
Discrimination on the basis of racial difference and preference of sex is the most common. Equality is one of the most important rights of the people. It is imminent that this right be respected and exercised even at the workplace. Almost every person at the work place has experienced some of discrimination happening, either with their colleagues or their own selves. Equal Employment Opportunity is a concept that is required to remedy such discriminations, by empowering the employee and making the employer aware of the rights that an employee enjoys even after agreeing to enter under their employment.
There is a concise list of Laws & Orders that come under Equal Employment Opportunities for all and they address the discriminations on the basis of race, sex, physical or mental status, religion, etc (Krugman, 2011). These Laws include the Civil Rights Act of 1984 and 1991, Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, Equal Pay Act of 1963, Americans with Disabilities Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Other Workers Benefit Protection Act, Immigration Reform and Control Act etc. and Executive Orders including Executive Order number 11246, 11375 and 11478 (Rawls, 1971). The EEO also supports affirmative action, requiring employers to bridge the gap of representation of employees from all categories at all of their organizational levels and providing equal remuneration to employees of similar postings. However, EEO laws try to avoid quotas and base cases on merit as described in them (Koch, 1989).
Discriminations in the working environment
In strict legal terms discrimination is established on majorly two criteria. The first is disparate treatment. This form of discrimination is established to have occurred in the following scenarios:
- The employer uses different criteria for different sections of individuals seeking employment or under employment.
- The employer uses similar criteria that undermines the complete uniqueness of the individual
In short it is a form of discrimination in which one group of employees is adjudged on the basis of rules that are not suitable them at all. It is the removal of a fair ground for judgment of an employee’s suitability for a particular form of employment. The second form of discrimination is disparate impact in which certain terms of employment work towards the disadvantage of a particular protected group. However, in the second scenario, the employer may provide evidence that the employee’s qualification and skill set may not be suitable for the job.
For example, a woman working at a common place of work was not allowed to return to employment after maternity as the woman had to take extended leave due to medical conditions. Equal Employment Opportunity describes that such a scenario must be taken as a disparate treatment, as the woman returning to employment was not given a chance to resume working due to prolonged absence, even in the face of evidence of a medical emergency. EEO Laws like the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (1993) requires the employer to treat pregnancy as any other medical leave and that a person under pregnancy be given at least 12 weeks of leave without pay and the opportunity to rejoin work. These laws have provisions for such cases that allow discriminated employees to approach law bodies to settle their case of discrimination.
EEO Laws and Regulations
An employee can file a case against the employer if he or she experiences discrimination on any of the basis listed above. It is therefore an issue of the Human Resource manager to manage a workforce with diversity. Employers who are found guilty of such discrimination are bound for punitive action in the form of back wages, fines and settlement of lawsuits. There are several laws in the United States that redress grievances to employees who have faced discrimination. The first of these laws is the Civil Rights Act of the year 1964. These laws and regulations are collectively known as the Equal Employment Opportunity laws (EEO Laws). These set of laws aim at providing fair opportunities to seek employment in an organization to all. These laws also dictate the rights of an individual to exercise these laws against an alleged employer who exhibits an act of discrimination on the basis of any of the above mentioned criteria.
However, the law procedure dictates the need of evidence of such discrimination. If the plaintiff is able to establish a set evidences that satisfactorily establish an act of discrimination from the employer towards the employee, the case is taken to be as a genuine case of discrimination and the employer is then required to provide evidential proof for the reason of their conduct. In the scenario the case is found strong against the employer, the employee may file a law suit against the employer and the employer may be entitled to punishment in the form of fines to the state, back wages to the employee etc.
However, such cases hardly find their way into court as most of the employees are unaware of their rights or they may not wish to entangle into cases that may turn into lengthy procedures. Most of these incidents are left unmentioned by the employee for fear of loss of employment. One of the reasons is that employees are not aware of the rights they are entitled to under Equal Employment Opportunities Laws. An employee who lodges a complaint against their employer is not subject to any form of punitive action from the employer before, during or after the case has been presented in the court. In other words the employer cannot terminate the complainant’s employment under them during the course of the case, and will not withhold the remuneration entitled to the employee while they continue to work under the employer or seek jobs under employers who practice such discrimination. If an employer is found to do so, they are liable to fines from the court and may face other punitive actions as well. Also, an employer is expected to train his supervisors to remove any chances of discrimination with employees.
There are certain areas where an employer may provide reason for not employing a particular individual. This evidence must include Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications (BFOQs) that are created for specific groups of people eligible for the job. Other reasons that an employer may give for not employing an individual is their non-suitability to the employer’s business plan in terms of skills and qualifications.
What is important that an employee must know his or her listing in the protected category and he or she must possess ample proof that either of the forms of discriminations, i.e. a disparate treatment or disparate impact has actually taken place. Once established the employee can ask the court to instruct the employer to provide burden of proof for their action. For example if a person is rejected from being taken into employment because he or she belongs to a particular race that is listed under the EEO law The Civil Rights Act of 1991 as a protected category, the individual may take his or her case to the court after affirming it to be a case of disparate treatment.
There are many rules and regulations that protect everyone’s right to be treated equally at the workplace. Even though this fact remains true, many employees are not treated equally at their workplaces. The reality is that even with the existence of EEOC, it not completely implemented in organizations. The first and the most severe reason is the lack of knowledge and the inability to initiate corrective measures against discrimination (Nozick, 1974). There is a need to disseminate the understanding of the EEO so that people may save themselves from being discriminated at the work place on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, sex, age, physical or mental status, previous employments or sexual orientations.
Conclusion
Equal opportunity for all is a universal concept. Prejudice and reservations undermine equality and bring in disparity. Such prejudices and reservations have no place in the modern day work places as multi-cultural professionals come together to work as one organization. Human Resource Managers, Policy makers and BFOQ drafters must consider all aspects before they hire, promote or fire employees (Finn, 2007). Equal Employment Opportunity Council keeps a check on complainants and their employers to find if an EEO law has been broken and acts at the behest of the employee.
It is evident that laws to protect the equality of employees at the work place are implemented in correct measures. However, it is the lack of knowledge and the length of legal cases of these laws that makes it difficult for employees to address these issues and protect their rights. If these laws are known to the employee they may be able to react and get the employer at fault to be punished accordingly. What is more important is identifying with discrimination and acting upon it with thorough research and planned out course of action.
References
Finn, R. (2007). "An Equal Opportunity Enemy of Bias". The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/nyregion/05lives.html
Jenkins, J.M., & Pigram, J. J. J. (Eds) (2005), Encyclopedia of leisure and outdoor recreation, Routledge, ISBN 0-203-67317-4
Koch, E.I. (1989). "Equal Opportunity: Without Minority Set-Asides." The New York Times: Opinion. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/20/opinion/equal-opportunity-without-minority-set-asides.html
Krugman, P. (2011). "More Thoughts on Equality of Opportunity". The New York Times. Retrieved from http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/more-thoughts-on-equality-of-opportunity/
Nozick, R. (1974), Anarchy, State, and Utopia, Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-00270-6.
Parekh, B. (2000) Rethinking Multiculturalism. Cultural Diversity and Political Theory, pp. 210–211, 240, London: Macmillan Press, 2000.
Rawls, J. (1971). "A Theory of Justice". Harvard College. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=tUEO9SuNG1oC&pg=PA83&dq=%22equality+of+opportunity%22&hl=en&ei=QBxqTqTfLeLv0gG27byuCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBTge#v=onepage&q=%22equality%20of%20opportunity%22&f=false
