In society today there are lots of variances of discrimination and harassment and whether it is intentional or not. It is unfair. Discrimination and harassment can have a detrimental effect on anyone which imposes burden, denies opportunity to individuals or groups and is profoundly unfair due to the fact that it is not based upon actual performance or any other form of competence.
There are four main types of discrimination which are recognised by the law;
Direct Discrimination
This is where the individual is unfairly treated by another person because of a direct protected characteristic or has associations with a person with that protected characteristic.
Indirect Discrimination
This is where a workplace policy or procedure disadvantages
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Within the workplace, my company has installed various policies regarding equality, inclusion and diversity which are all available to read on the notice board for everyone to see.. All my fellow work colleagues consist of male and female genders with ages starting from 22 years old to 58 years old. We all treat each other with respect, dignity and cohesion on a daily basis. There have been opportunities for various members of staff with different ages, experiences and skills to go on a variety of training courses together as well as individually. The company employs people from various parts of the North West i.e. Wigan, St Helens, Burnley and Preston. As you can see, the employees come from an assortment of locations, but we all work, laugh, help each other as one big happy family. No matter what skills, experience or seniority or even managerial level an individual has, we are always there to lend a hand and help as well as treating each other with dignity and respect. A couple of employees regularly need to attend hospital appointments(approx 2 hours long) during a normal working day which the company agrees to and also gives the employees the option of making the time up or leave it as it is. In another case, one of our employees had a motor cycle accident which affected his legs and stability for a long while, however the company and his work colleagues all made adjustments in and around the workplace to accommodate this temporary disability in order for him to carry on working through his re habillitation
Authors of the book Modern Sexism: Blatant, Subtle, and Covert Discrimination, Nijole V. Benokraitis and Joe R. Feagin, examine gender inequality and sexual discrimination in today’s society while comparing them to issues of the past with hard hitting facts. The book examines multiple forms of sexual discrimination, in addition to the past decades problems. Overall, the authors use of nonstop statistics created a view of a bleak future for the female race.
Discrimination has led to under representation in the workforce. Many people would agree that this is not healthy for a multi-racial society. If two people with equal qualifications were applying for a job, then the person from the minority would receive the job. Many individuals argue that this is reverse discrimination. A big problem is that companies may have to hire less qualified members of minority groups to meet the quotas. This means that affirmative action does not eliminate stereotypes and in some cases, it may even make it worse.
In Michelle Alexander’s speech on her book The New Jim Crow, she vividly describes the past forms of blatant oppression of minority groups, especially Latino, and even more so, African American men. Such political systems such as slavery and Jim Crow Laws, were discussed as government intended repression of African Americans. The War on Drugs is then blamed for unfairly targeting minorities, which results in staggering rates of Black and Hispanic arrests. She later relates the past direct forms of discrimination to today’s indirect forms, and informs her audience on how our present political system has a very similar effect to the Jim Crow laws. I feel she effectively and convincingly states her argument using clear and concise language.
Discrimination is discrimination regardless of what type of form it takes. There is truly only one kind if discrimination and that is where an individual's rights are infringed upon due to traits in which they have no power to control. Each and every one of us deserves to have the right to freedom and equality given to us by our forefather's.
In today’s workplace, African Americans continue to be subjected to overt discrimination. This can take the form of ethnic jokes, racial slurs and exclusionary behaviors by Euro-American co-workers and managers. Even more disturbing is the verbal abuse, calculated mistreatment and even physical threats experienced by some African Americans while on the job. African Americans have also faced overt acts such as being reassigned to lower level projects, not receiving a promotion even though they were equally qualified and receiving less wages than other employees, even less qualified new hires. The discrimination can be so pervasive that African Americans feel uneasy and threatened, demotivated and disrespected, eventually feeling forced to leave to search for other employment.
Employment Discrimination laws seek to prevent discrimination based on race, sex, religion, national origin, physical disability, and age by employers. A growing body of law also seeks to prevent employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Discriminatory practices include bias in hiring, promotion, job assignment, termination, compensation, retaliation, and various types of harassment. The main body of employment discrimination laws consists of federal and state statutes. The United States Constitution and some state constitutions provide additional protection when the employer is a governmental body or the government has taken significant steps to foster the discriminatory practice of the employer.
Overall discrimination is an awful thing. It is like a STD, it can be passed from parent to child, or someone can become infected if you don’t watch out. Discrimination is also like the plague. It sweeps over a large amount of people, infecting most, and most don’t survive. Though today much of the discrimination is gone, just like the plague, but it is still there. Unfortunately for some people, they have to deal with people discrimination from others. Whether it be discrimination of one’s race, age, disability, or gender. Discrimination has numerous damaging effects to someone’s life. In Of Mice and Men the unlucky victims of discrimination also suffer from the same effects. They allow for people to have control of them and walk all over them. Discrimination is like a fire... It hurts.
It is quite certain to say that discrimination can be deadly and can deprive a person from living a normal and happy life. Especially those with disability. Therefore, it is important for discriminatory practices to be avoided and dealt properly ones reported.. If these effects are dealt properly ,long term effects can be eliminated.
Everyone will have a least one job in their lifetime, and knowing how to recognize discrimination, so they are able to seek the proper help when needed to is very important. Discrimination in the work place can happen to anyone, and that is why people need to know the laws that protect employees against discrimination, ways employers can prevent discrimination, and the effects of discrimination in the workplace.
Introduction- Discrimination affects people all over the world. People of all ethnicities and from all different walks of life are influenced in some way by workplace discrimination. "Discrimination" means unequal treatment. One of the most common elements discriminated against is a persons ethnicity, or their race. This is called Racial Discrimination. While there are many federal laws concerning discrimination, most states have enacted laws that prohibit it. These laws may have different remedies than the federal laws and may, in certain circumstances be more favorable than the federal laws.
Since the time women were eligible to be an employee of a workplace, they have become victims of discrimination. Discrimination is the practice of treating a person or group of people differently from other people (Webster, 2013). Thousands of women have suffered from discrimination in workplaces because they are pregnant, disabled, or of the opposite sex. It is crazy to think that someone would fire a woman because she became pregnant and needed to have some work adjustments ("Pregnancy and parenting,"). A woman goes through a lot to give birth to children, and men will never understand the complications a mother encounters during the pregnancy. Sadly, males think that pregnant women don’t make a working hand, which is totally wrong.
Discrimination is known to exist in all workplaces, sometimes it is too subtle to notice, and other times it is exceedingly obvious. It is known that everyone subconsciously discriminates, dependant on their own beliefs and environments that surround them. However, discrimination can be either positive or negative in their results, and sometimes discrimination is a necessary part of life.
What is unconscious bias? When asked this question, many people are hesitant to respond or they may not know the answer. But, it is quite simple. Unconscious bias can be defined as biases that we have but are not fully aware of. It becomes just “something we do,” essentially, it has been normalized and it is something rooted in our brains. Many times unconscious bias can also be referred to as implicit bias. There are many ways to define what this simple phrase means but, the best definition comes from the Kirwan Institute. The Kirwan Institute describes implicit/unconscious bias as “the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner” (). Essentially, we may not know that we are being biased towards a certain person or group of people in our everyday lives. Many times this kind of behavior can find its way into the workplace and we being to make unconscious judgements about the employees that we work with on a day to day basis. With that being said, all members of society should work to defeat unconscious bias and I believe that starting with the workplace will help to make it a habit in our lives.
Workplace harassment is unwelcome actions that are based on a person’s race, religion, color, and sex, and gender, country of origin, age, ethnicity or disability. The targets of the harassment are people who are usually perceived as “weaker” or “inferior” by the person who is harassing them. Companies and employers can also be guilty of workplace harassment if they utilize discriminatory practices against persons based on ethnicity, country of origin, religion, race, color, age, disability, or sex. These discriminatory practices have been illegal since the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Civil Rights Act of 1964), and have been amended to be more inclusive of other people who experience discrimination by the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (The Civil Rights Act of 1991), and most recently, President Obama’s signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (Stolberg, 2009).
Harassment and discrimination claims are due to lack of education about the subject. As an independent human resources consultant, Santiago-Santos will organize a local education campaign and provide employers with different trainings to educate them and their employees about harassment and discrimination. Employers will have a better understanding on how to develop internal policies and procedures to address these claims. Also, trainings will be provided for employees and they will be educated on how to prevent and identify harassment and discrimination as well as what steps to take in order to report such behavior.