Discrimination within the workplace is a major concern due to its ability to limit the working opportunities for individuals based on their identities. Attempts to reduce the incidence of these cases have been made by establishing policies within the workplace institutions and also setting up national anti-discrimination laws. However, several cases of discrimination are still being experienced even in major companies. The paper will use a case study of gender and sexual orientation discrimination to outline the different laws and the provisions of these laws which are relevant to the case, discussing the manner these laws relate to the ethical issue.
The case study in question involves discrimination of as gay worker within a construction company by their sexual orientation. The case occurred when the manager refused to promote the worker claiming that he was not fit for the position due to his sexual orientation. The gay worker was the most qualified for the promotion, due to his high level of performance when compared to other workers in the department. He had exceeded the set targets for three consecutive years an aspect that earned him the best performer awards in the department and throughout the company. Although the company’s policy is that the biggest performers for two years are eligible for promotion, Mr. Vick was not promoted. He had openly declared that he was gay to the fellow workers while receiving the award for the best performer during the first year. After communicating the issue to the manager and the human resource department, he was informed that there were concerns regarding his ability to lead other workers due to the demands of Construction Company.
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The discrimination presented in the case study is sexual orientation discrimination, whereby the members of different sexual orientation are treated differently compared to workers who are ‘straight.’ Although Mr. Vick qualified for the promotion, he was overlooked due to his orientation. Since he recorded the best performance for the three consecutive fiscal years, he was best placed for the promotion. However, the company overlooked him for the promotion to managerial position arguing that he would not be able to manage the construction workers effectively since he was gay. There is no evidence that being gay limits one from having the managerial traits which are required to supervise and manage other workers.
The Gay, Lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) community represent one of the biggest minority groups not only throughout the United States but also globally (Telesco 2009). The amount of LGBTQ employee has been increasing rapidly, an aspect that has made them one of the biggest compositions of the minority groups. Ensuring equality of opportunities to different members of the community, including the minority groups, is essential for an organization to be creative and as a result, competitive in the global market. Promoting equality of employment and other opportunities within the workplace helps in creating a diverse workforce, thus allowing the organization to benefit from diverging ideas and views of the workers to help in creating a competitive advantage (Telesco 2009).
In the United States, several federal and statutory laws have been enacted to safeguard against discrimination of LGBTQ workers (Ozeren, 2014). One of the federal laws protecting workers against discrimination is the Title VII of the Civil Right Acts of 1964. The law discriminates against any form of employment discrimination based on sex, race, national origin, religion, and color. The law is not only meant to prevent the workers but also the job applicants. Since the Construction Company under consideration has over 50 workers, it qualifies to be covered under Title VII of the act. The act provides that an employer should not discriminate workers in employment and promotion based on their sex race color, and age (Ozeren, 2014).
Another law which is relevant to the case is the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (Colellas & Kings 2018). The law is used in providing monetary damages to the employees who have been subjected to intentional discriminatory actions (Ozeren, 2014). Mr. Vick and his legal team can use the act to sue the employees for compensation for the discriminatory actions committed against him by the manager and the Construction Company.
California has also enacted statutory laws to prohibit against discrimination of the workers in the state by the different organizations. California Fair Employment Housing Act (FEHA) has prohibited against discrimination of the workers on the basis of the sex and gender (Colellas & Kings 2018). The law covers the workers in private businesses, local government agencies, and labor organizations. Since the business is a private organization based in California, it is covered by the FEHA (England, 2015).
Based on the case study, Mr. Vick should contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Community and file a report of discrimination on the basis of his sexual orientation (Ozeren, 2014). The organization is liable to investigate the business to determine its role in the unethical practices. The employee is also safeguarded by the commission from any retaliatory action that may be taken by the business with regards to the filed complaint (England, 2015).
In conclusion, discrimination within the workplace is increasingly common within the different local, regional and even global institutions. Preventing these cases of discrimination is essential for businesses to ensure the workforce is diverse and as a result, promote creativity and innovation, which will enable the business to improve its productivity. There are several laws, statutory and federal, which have been enacted to ensure that the incidence of workforce discrimination is significantly lowered.
References
Badgett, M. V., Lau, H., Sears, B., & Ho, D. (2007). Bias in the workplace: Consistent evidence of sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination .
Colella, A., & King, E. (2018). The Oxford handbook of workplace discrimination . New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
England, D. C. (2015). The essential guide to handling workplace harassment & discrimination. Berkeley, California: Nolo
Ozeren, E. (2014). Sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace: A systematic review of literature. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 109 , 1203-1215.
Telesco, G. A. (2009). Case studies on sexual orientation and gender expression in social work practice.
