Discrimination in employment involves treating employees unequally, and unfairly. Prejudicial treatment is often based on individuals' physical characteristics or status, including age, gender, race, nationality, color, religion, and physical or mental disabilities (Pizer et al., 2011). Such physical characteristics otherwise referred to as protected characteristics, are safeguarded under the non-discriminatory laws. Harassment at the workplace is a form of discrimination where an executive officer, supervisor, or workmate does intimidating, hostile, and aggressive acts that create an unhealthy work environment. Harassments based on the protected characteristics are illegal, especially when they are so severe and perversive that they interfere with a person's ability to perform tasks, duties, and job roles well. Fortunately, several federal laws and statutes exist that safeguard employees against workplace and employment discrimination.
Principle Federal Laws Associated with Discriminatory Harassment in Employment
Civil Rights Acts, Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Rehabilitation Act, Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, and Equal Pay Acts include some federal anti-discrimination laws (Pizer et al., 2011). While these laws are formed and amended through the Act of Parliament, they are enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC serves a superintendence and coordination role for all national equal employment opportunity principles, practices, and procedures. Furthermore, the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) prohibits certain conduct in the workplace in promoting general fairness in civil servants' actions. The CSRA provides that individual attributes such as marital status and political affiliation should not be used to determine workers’ duties and job roles. The CSRA protects current and prospective employees acting as whistle-blowers or exercising their petition, complaint, or grievance rights against reprisal and punishment. The CSRA is imposed by both the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Office of Special Counsel.
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The 1964 Civil Rights Act makes workplace discrimination predicated on the protected characteristics illegal. The EEOC was initially created under the Civil Rights Act to ensure that all employers, recruitment agents, and employee unions do not participate in discriminatory acts and workers' harassment (Baker et al., 2012). The EOCC protects employees from any workplace discriminatory harassment and helps injured employees file lawsuits and fight for their rights. The Civil Rights Acts have since faced several amendments with more statutes added onto it. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 provides aggrieved workers with a right to monetary compensation in workplace discriminatory harassment.
The Employment’ Age Discrimination Act (ADEA) protects employees over the age of 40 from any age-based workplace discrimination and harassment. Old employees can be discriminated against during job hiring, promotion, remuneration, retirement benefits, and other job-related privileges (Baker et al., 2012). Setting up a specific age limit in job requirements is prohibited by the ADEA. Instead, age aspects and distinctions should be used. The Equal Pay Act, at the same time, bars gender-related wage discrimination between males and females performing considerably equal work in the same setting.
The Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act prohibits the use of job applicants', employees,' and ex-employees 'genetic information in workplace duty allocation and role assignment. Americans with Disabilities Act, on the other hand, protects eligible employees with disabilities from any form of workforce harassment and aggravation (Goodman-Delahunty et.al., 2011). This Act covers all employees with disabilities in the private and public sectors. The Rehabilitation Act specifically protects competent individuals with disabilities working for the federal government against discriminatory harassment.
Discrimination and Harassment in the Workplace Today
Discrimination can be observed in various employment stages and relationships. Most workplace discrimination incidences occur during the recruitment and hiring stages, where certain people are favored against others with particular protected characteristics (Baker et al., 2012). Sometimes, bias is portrayed when selecting or considering employees for job promotion, transfers, retrenchment, and dismissal. During on-job training, prejudice is seen when categorizing employees for certain classes of training. For instance, supervisors unfairly select employees to take part in management and leadership training programs. Discrimination in the terms and conditions of service can also be observed in contemporary workplaces with unequal employment benefits.
Workplace harassment involves treating individuals from the protected class less favorably through bullying, victimization, and oppression. Behaviors such as expressing insulting remarks about a particular protected class, categorically sending them sexually suggestive messages through text or mail, and asking meddlesome questions about their personal life, amount to harassment. More harassment instances include displaying racially offensive content on posters or wallpapers and making defamatory comments or ridicule about a persons’ disability. Both one-time and repetitive incidences of these acts amount to harassment and are punishable by law.
Bullying consists of any form of workplace discrimination that is so severe as to cause workers' health and security risk. Both physical assault and psychological abuse are forms of bullying. The use of abusive language at the office by yelling and screaming is an example of physical bullying. Other actions such as assigning workers non-job-related meaningless tasks, assigning workers undoable jobs, setting unrealistic tasks' timelines, employee seclusion, and inconveniencing employees are psychological bullying, which causes the affected employees to feel intimidated.
Parties to workplace discrimination and harassment consist of employers, employees, recruitment agents, partners, contractors, promoters, suppliers, and commission agents. All harassment and discrimination incidences require employers and supervisors quick and appropriate responses regardless of their significance and parties involved. The moment supervisors and managers ignore workplace discriminatory harassment incidences by failing to address them, a toxic work environment is created. Other complaints and grievances come forth from unresolved workplace discrimination-related conflicts. From a national survey statistic, 45 out of every hundred employees are bullied at work. The bosses and executive officers perpetrate Twenty-three percent of all workplace bullying (Goodman-Delahunty et al., 2011). Fellow workers do less than 10 percent of workplace bullying. The statistics further reveal that most aggrieved workers rarely report their harassment to the HR desk or any law enforcement officers regardless of the discriminatory Act, causing them severe physical and mental health problems.
Strategies against Workplace Discrimination and Harassment
Company strategies to handle discriminatory workplace harassment involve the institution of strict workplace anti-harassment policies, the establishment of a harassment complaint system, and accountability training. Employers should formulate and document anti-harassment workplace policies and communicate them to all employees (Dipboye & Colella, 2005). The guidelines should be translated into all languages used in the office so that all workers are capable of comprehending them. A copy of the documented policies should also be given to all employees for reference purposes, and all workers should sign against them during hiring. A summary of the zero-tolerance to harassment policies should be outlined in posters and posted in internal company websites, handbooks, strategic walls, and locations. These policies should, however, be updated periodically to rhyme with the company's ever-changing needs. All employees should not only have these policies at their fingertips, but they should also follow them to the latter. Strict measures should be taken upon any employee that breaks the anti-harassment policies.
Designing of harassment complaint system is another anti-harassment effort that employers consider currently. Effective complaint systems for reporting harassment allegations are critical for creating a favorable working environment for all employees (Dipboye & Colella, 2005). The system should be designed so that employees discriminated against file their complaint, and witnesses to the discriminatory harassments also report their view. A personnel team should be set aside to resolve the harassment complaints after receiving and thoroughly investigating them. The personnel team is precisely responsible for implementing the harassment complaint system. For effective use of the system, the individuals selected as complaint system personnel should undergo rigorous training. Such personnel should have vital characteristics such as objectivity, neutrality, independence, authoritativeness, and professional skepticism. The company should provide these personnel teams with the necessary resources required for investigation and complaint resolution. Instead of allowing the complaint system personnel to work independently, a supervisory team should be elected to monitor their step-by-step working. The company should ensure that the harassment complaint system's presence does not interfere with the typical working environment and that workers should feel free and comfortable to report their complaints. All complaints should be documented right from the initial reporting stage through investigation to resolution for objectivity purposes.
Training of all workplace associates on workplace harassment and accountability is a subtle strategy of handling discriminatory workplace harassment. The purpose of the training is to make workers aware of workplace discriminatory harassment, show them the negative impacts of such conduct in the workplace, and warn them on the consequences of those who discriminate and harass other workers (Dipboye & Colella, 2005). However, the training should emphasize the need to be accountable and responsible for each other and becoming a brothers' keeper, that way, a peaceful work environment is created and maintained at all costs.
References
Baker, N. L., Vasquez, M. J., & Shullman, S. L. (2012). Assessing employment discrimination and harassment. Handbook of Psychology, Second Edition , 11 .
Dipboye, R. L., & Colella, A. (2005). The dilemmas of workplace discrimination. Discrimination at work: The psychological and organizational bases , 425-462.
Goodman-Delahunty, J., Foote, W., & Foote, W. E. (2011). Evaluation for workplace discrimination and harassment . Oxford University Press.
Pizer, J. C., Sears, B., Mallory, C., & Hunter, N. D. (2011). Evidence of persistent and pervasive workplace discrimination against LGBT people: The need for federal legislation prohibiting discrimination and providing for equal employment benefits. Loy. LAL Rev. , 45 , 715.
