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Employment discrimination refers to discriminatory employment practices such as bias in hiring, promotion, job assignment, termination, and compensation, and various types of harassment.
In many countries, laws prohibit employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, physical or mental disability, or age. There is also a growing body of law preventing or occasionally justifying employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Some jurisdictions within countries implement their own non-discrimination laws.
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Protected categories
Laws often prohibit discrimination on the basis of:
- Race or color
- Ethnicity/National origin
- Sex or gender
- Pregnancy
- Religion or creed
- Political affiliation
- Language abilities
- Citizenship
- Disability (physical, mental, or emotional)
- Medical conditions (AIDS or other diseases)
- Age
- Sexual Orientation
- Gender Identity
- Marital status
- Military Veteran status
- Military discharge status or anticipated military deployment
Some jurisdictions prohibit employment discrimination against other social group that have legal protections. They include discrimination or harassment based on socioeconomic class, height or weight if not relevant to employment, and provincial/regional origin.
Unintentional discrimination
Unintentional discrimination (often termed "statistical discrimination") occurs when neutral selection practices produce a substantial disparity of outcomes between one group and another. Such practices include the use of standardized tests (which may disadvantage minority groups) or height (which may disadvantage women and some ethnic groups) in the hiring process. If the requirements are job-related and a "business necessity", the disparity is irrelevant.
Some laws prohibit unintentional discrimination as well as intentional discrimination, but may have different standards for deciding what is acceptable. Substantial disparities in outcome are not necessarily illegal, if the practices that produce them are necessary.
Legal protection from employment discrimination
Many countries have laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Sometimes these are part of broader anti-discrimination laws.
By location
- Employment discrimination law in the United States
- Employment discrimination law in the United Kingdom
United States Racial Discrimination in the Workplace
Although laws and regulations prohibit discrimination on the basis of race by the employer, statistics show that racial discrimination in the workplace still exists. At any given education level, whites in the United States receive a higher income than minorities. Although income disparities may be partially explained by differences in human capital, an earnings gap between races of the same educational attainment shows that discrimination still exists:
- A black high-school dropout earns 67.5% of the income of a white high-school dropout.
- A Hispanic high-school dropout earns 78.6% of the income of a white-high school dropout.
- A black high school graduate earns 73.3% of the income of a white high school graduate.
- A Hispanic high school graduate earns 78.4% of the income of a white high school graduate.
- A black individual with some college earns 76.3% of the income of a white individual with some college.
- A Hispanic individual with some college earns 77.0% of the income of a white individual with some college.
- A black college graduate earns 72.5% of the earnings of a white college graduate.
- A Hispanic college graduate earns 76.6% of the earnings of a white college graduate.
It may be difficult to find an employer that is overtly racist, in the sense that white workers are systematically paid more than minority workers. However, the earnings gap that still exists after accounting for quantity of schooling can be largely explained by institutionalized discrimination. Corporations that compensate their workers with high salaries rely on existing employees to help hire new employees. When new positions open up, workers find family members and friends who want the position. If a corporation is already predominantly composed of white workers, in turn, it is likely that the corporation will continue to hire more white workers through such “word-of-mouth” practices. Such hiring practices are logical, as they are not illegal, and they are efficient in that they incur no costs. Although minority group members may exist that possess qualities and accomplishments that make them well-suited for a given job, they are not as well intertwined in the social networks of high-paid corporate employees. As these hiring practices are developed, racism becomes institutionalized. In other words, no single individual can be blamed.
Additionally, statistical discrimination may be responsible for the some of the wage gap between equally-educated whites and minorities. An employer will not know how well a prospective employee will perform on the job until it has actually hired the employee. On average, white workers have more skills and experience than their minority counterparts. In turn, if an employer must make a quick decision between a pool of candidates with the same educational attainment, he or she may choose the prospective white employee over the prospective hispanic or black employee on statistical grounds.
Human nature may be another reason for the wage gap that exists between equally-educated whites and minorities. People like to be around other people that are similar to themselves. Unfortunately, since the recruiters for high-paying jobs are most often white, this means that white employees are more likely to be hired.
Although impossible to test, it is still widely believed that overt discrimination in the workplace on the basis of race still exists. Unlike the hiring tactics detailed above, some hiring choices may be purely racist. In a poll held by Newsweek, a significant portion of individuals (25% of white respondents and 46% of black respondents) believe that “racism in the workplace is a problem for families today.” Unfortunately, it is very difficult to prove that an employer is using such practices, as it is easy for the employer to say that other characteristics of potential employees were used to make a decision that was actually racist.
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See also
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 25 November 2008, at 03:22.
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