An instance of employee discrimination occurred in a department where Jane, a minority overheard repeated racial slurs being made by her supervisor, Adam. When Jane submitted an EEO complaint to the HR department regarding Adam's conduct, Adam sought retaliation by deliberately changing Jane's schedule, placing her shifts she was unable to work. Jane felt that Adam was trying to get her to quit by making the demands of the job impossible for her to complete. Jane did submit a second complained to HR regarding the perceived retaliation, but was unaccommodated in her request for a follow up investigation. After two months, she quit, sighting workplace stress as the reason.
Enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policy was put in place to remedy discrimination based on the protected classes of color, race, religion, sex, age, disability, pregnancy, national origin, or genetic information. In addition to the aforementioned protected classes, the policy covers promotion as well as compensation and hiring practices.(ASHE, 2013) Affirmative Action (AA) helps the protective classes, most generally race and gender-based to benefit these underrepresented minority groups during the hiring process by encouraging employers to actively recruit, hire, and promote qualified minorities and women.(ASHE, 2013) State laws, in addition to federal laws, have analogous laws implemented which prohibit discrimination and some have even more laws than federal laws as well.
Human Resource Managers have a responsibility to promote workforce diversity and fairness in order to promote the well being of the entire organization.(ASHE, 2013) Human Resource Managers have a responsibility to promote inclusiveness and actively work against discrimination in the hiring, firing and day to day personnel operations of an organization an organization that is committed towards equal treatment for all persons regardless of race, age, sexual orientation, culture, spiritual or religious beliefs, and disabilities.(Pynes, 2009)
Risk management strategies support equity within the workplace by considering all the risks involved in each element of the HR process and function. In the area of hiring, for example, risks can be identified in the potential for discriminatory practices, hiring the wrong candidates or hiring unsuitable or unsafe candidates. (Harvey et al, 2015) HR managers may seek to ensure that sufficient background check was implemented on the candidate before being hired and also that applicable hiring laws were observed in hiring. HR staff may also confirm that the employee signed off on the employee contract containing workplace policies before beginning their term (Harvey et al 2015). Employee supervision may involve risks of abuse of authority or release of personal employee information. HR personnel can mitigate these risks by ensuring that guidelines for private information protection are stated and followed (Harvey et al, 2015). HR may also consider whether they provide adequate supervision and training of mid-level managers in order to prevent abuse of authority.
Maintaining diversity in a human service organization is of paramount importance as human service organizations are instituted to serve the needs of all walks of life. In order to have an effective workforce, a nurturing and supportive environment must be developed that values and encourages all employees. Human service managers who promote diversity have the ability to improve the overall function and quality of the organization by making them more effective and continuing to discriminate against minorities, women, elderly and other minority or vulnerable groups. (Pynes, 2009).
References
ASHE Higher Education Report. (2013). Benefits of institutional diversity, 39(3), 49-68.
Harvey, C. P., & Allard, M. (2015). Understanding and managing diversity. Pearson.
Pynes, J.E. (2009). Human resources management for public and nonprofit organizations. (3rd ed.) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
