The human resource department often faces biases of imperfect human decision makers when it comes to employment policies. The mission Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's is to Promote Equal Opportunities in the Workplace by Enforcing Federal Laws that Prohibit Employment Discrimination. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was created under title VII of the civil rights Act of 1964 aims to address the large number of employment decisions that are based upon discriminatory practices such as gender, age, sex, pregnancy or disability. The Human resources department uses standardized tools such as Salary classification systems, job descriptions, performance evaluations and job promotions in order to promote equal opportunities for all employees in the workplace.
Human Resource Plans have included Equal pay that protects men and women who do the same work from wage pay discrimination through job descriptions, performance evaluations and salary classifications. Discriminated employees within an organization often internalize the negative evaluations on them which in the end leads to the employees engaging in self-limiting behaviors such as avoiding challenging job assignments (Greenhaus, Parasuraman & Wormley, 1990). The Lilly Ledbetter fair pay Act of 2009, that president Obama signed into law was meant to protect against alleged pay discriminations. In May 2007, Lilly Ledbetter who was a supervisor at Goodyear Galdsden Alabama facility filed a pay claim discrimination claim after retiring in 1998. Ledbetter asserted that the management’s decision to deny her a raise was based on grounds of gender biasness. Her assertion was that unsatisfactory performance evaluations led to her receiving lower earnings. A claim that saw her being compensated by clocking back all affected pay slips. Pay is often measured using job evaluations. It has been a common practice to see men receiving larger salary increases than women using the same job performance appraisal ratings. The equal pay Act gives employees the right to challenge discriminatory pay structures.
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The Human Resource departments have to put in place unfair discrimination policies that protect employees form hostile work environments based on racial or gender discrimination. Title VII civil rights Act of 1964 made it illegal for employers to discriminate against minority groups such as women and the Blacks. Such employees because of discrimination are often excluded from the informal social networks within the organization creating a hostile work environment which makes it difficult to influence organizational decisions or advance career growth. A former African American female employee who was subjected to a racially hostile work environment won over $1 million in judgment against Whirlpool Corp.
The Tennessee federal district judge awarded her damages in December 21, 2001 for being punched in the face by the harasser and knocked into the assembly line where she was hit by an air conditions and an on-coming assembly line. In March 1961, an executive order 10925 was signed by president John F. Kennedy prohibiting the federal government contractors from discriminating other employees on account of race. This executive order was meant to protect the blacks from discrimination depending on differences in race (Konrad & Linnehan,1995). Such Subtle issues as acceptance within a work environment and support from immediate supervisors often affect career development.
Companies have also put in place the Diversity and Inclusion Plan, In order to Hire employees from diverse backgrounds including people with disabilities. Building a diverse community of employees often reflect human diversity and improves work opportunities for everyone. For example, a jury awarded over $13 million in damages to an employee at Chuck E. Cheese who had developmental disabilities. The regional manager fired him claiming he did not want “those people” working at his restaurant. The award is the largest under the American Disabilities Act. The rehabilitation of Act 1973 section 501 prohibits the federal government from discriminating against qualified individuals who suffer from any form of disability. The diversity and inclusion plan helps companies retain a wide variety of employees and firm specific skills which transforms disabled employees into ambitious, self actualized individuals.
Human resources have also included the Age discrimination Act that forbids discrimination against people who are above the age of forty. The push to protect the older employees within an organization has seen congress extending the retirement ages for college and university professors to the age of seventy, thereby defining a seventy year old as a productive member of the society. An example includes Cosmair who offered to continue an employee’s salary and medical benefits for 37 weeks after the employee’s termination of her employment. The employee signed the release agreement, but later filed an EEOC charge for dismissal due to age discrimination (From, Bokat, Reesman, Costagliola & Williams, 2005). When the employer received notice of the charge, it discontinued the employee’s severance benefits. Unlawful retaliation was thereby involved because the employer stopped providing the promised benefits to which he was otherwise entitled to. Congress passed older workers benefits protection Act in 1990, prohibiting discriminating of employees according to age or employee benefits. The psychologically harmful effects of the perceived discrimination by age becomes evident when one age group, especially the older generations band together, increasingly identifying with employees of own age. Such Discriminations often stereotype the older employees as non productive and put in place measures to attempt to remove them from the work environment. The Human resources department should therefore be able to institute work ladders and Career development Plans that create mentors and supervisors within the organization to protect employees as they grow old within the organization.
The further education and training Act of 2007 promotes education opportunities and Training for employees in order to advance their Career through education and learning. Training, promotions and advancement programs make sure that employees develop complex work related skills and use promotions to motivate workers into staying within the organization. Workplace discrimination that reduces career development prospects creates fewer opportunities for employees to enhance their work-related skills and career goals (Garstka, Schmitt, Branscombe & Hummert, 2004). For example in May 1954, the Supreme Court ruled against the board of education for Topeka, Kansas that the field for public education had no place for separate educational facilities.
An organization should ensure that all employees from discriminated minority groups are included to receive development training to prepare them for future job promotions and engage everyone in the deliver excellent service to the organization and customers through updated technology and a skilled diverse workforce. Employees who receive relatively little career support from their immediate supervisors often find it difficult to advance their career within the organization. Support form supervisors may include career information and guidance, performance evaluations, and the assignment of challenging work assignments.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's enforces employment laws and regulations by mediating between millions of biased management decisions which includes hiring, promotions, transfers, disciplinary actions, work terminations among others. Biased Human resource systems tend to value contributions from men who are often viewed as the majority groups while neglecting the other groups such as women, people with disability and the old, which places them at a disadvantage. Cultural diversity in the workplace on the other hand creates a competitive advantage by celebrating and promoting the different skill set from each demographic group which offers different talents to different parts of an organization (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart & Wright, 2003).
References
From, O. A., Bokat, S. A., Reesman, A. E., Costagliola, R. J., & Williams, l. (2005). Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Garstka, T. A., Schmitt, M. T., Branscombe, N. R., & Hummert, M. L. (2004). How young and older adults differ in their responses to perceived age discrimination. Psychology and aging, 19, 326-335.
Greenhaus, J. H., Parasuraman, S., & Wormley, W. M. (1990). Effects of race on organizational experiences, job performance evaluations, and career outcomes. Academy of management Journal, 33(1), 64-86.
Konrad, A. M., & Linnehan, F. (1995). Formalized HRM structures: coordinating equal employment opportunity or concealing organizational practices?. Academy of Management Journal, 38(3), 787-820.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2003). Gaining a competitive advantage. Irwin: McGraw-Hill.
