JOB DISCRIMINATION

Job discrimination includes hiring, wage, and promotion decisions based on anything

other than a worker's performance, credentials, or skills.

Employment discrimination or workplace discrimination is discrimination in hiring, promotion,

job assignment, termination, and compensation. It includes various types of harassment. Many

companies with ethical values prohibit some types of employment discrimination, often by

forbidding discrimination based on certain traits. Hellen Hemphill and Ray Haines described

four basic areas of discrimination;

 Isolated discrimination: harmful actions undertaken by a dominant group member

intentionally against members of a subordinate group, without that action being socially

inserted in the larger organization or community.

 Small group discrimination: harmful actions under taken by a few dominant group

members intentionally acting in concert against members of subordinate groups, without

the backing of the larger organization.

 Direct institutional discrimination: Organizations prescribed actions that, by objective,

have an unfavorable impact upon members of subordinate groups which are regular

actions carried out by large numbers of employees guided by organizational norms and

culture.
  Indirect institutional discrimination: Practices that have a negative impact upon members

of a subordinate group, even though the prescribed norms and regulations guiding these

actions were established with no intent to harm subordinate group members.

There are a lot of discriminations that takes place at the workplace but we will address just a

few;

 Age Discrimination

 Sexual Harassment

 Race Discrimination

 Sexual Orientation Discrimination

 Gender Discrimination

Gender discrimination

There are several regulations that are used to promote equality within the workplace,

discrimination is still rampant. Women still do not measure up to men when it comes to income,

employment rates and occupational range. Women’s average salary is 72 to 88 percent of men’s,

even when variables such as education, age, position level and job tenure. In some countries, the

glass ceiling is ever present for women and the wage differences are significant compared to

men. Based on a report by Catalyst in 2005, only “one in fifty eight woman were CEO’s in the

Fortune 500; an additional nine were CEO’s in Fortune 501-1000 companies”. Women are also

more likely to be stuck in low-paid but more secure positions. Historically the rate of

employment for women was lower. “Discrimination can occur at every stage of employment,
from recruitment to education and remuneration, occupational segregation, and at time of

layoffs”.

Age Discrimination

There is a notion that older workers have had their days and should make room for the next

generation is deeply ingrained in today’s workforce. Age discrimination in the work place

occurs when one employee is treated differently from another due to age. It is one of the fastest

growing fields of law. While the overall number of claims has increased, the number of age

discrimination claims often keeps up with general economic conditions and employment layoffs.

It is normal that when layoffs occur, discrimination claims go up as well, some of which are

legitimate and some of which are not. Companies who discriminate based on age tend to believe

that older workers are less flexible and less willing to learn new tools and technologies, and that

younger workers tend to be more dedicated, hard working and detailed oriented. Solving the

problem of age discrimination in the work place involves three things: understanding the

problem, educating the public on age discrimination, and finding ways to address and overcome

the issue.

Ethnic and Racial Discrimination

There has been interest in examining the perception of racial or ethnic discrimination and its

input to productivity. Discrimination has been defined as the exclusion of some groups from the

sharing of power, income and gratifications. Discrimination is often interpreted in a very broad
manner and clearly described as an outcome driven by a wide range of different and sometimes

overlapping, processes. In many instances within the workplace, these processes operate

continuously to undermine the value and productivity of specific groups of employees. Most

studies found that discrimination in all its forms prevents individuals from accessing, or

progressing within, the labor market (ACAS, 2004; Age) reported that racial or ethnic

discrimination in the workplace has a huge impact both at individual and organization levels. It

has been estimated that at any one time around 500,000 people are suffering from work related

stress at a level that makes them sick.

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is bullying or intimidation of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or improper

promise of rewards in exchange for sexual grants. In most modern legal contexts, sexual

harassment is illegal. It is unlawful to harass a person, an applicant or employee because of that

person’s sex." Harassment can include "sexual harassment" or unwelcome sexual advances,

requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature. Where

laws surrounding sexual harassment exist, they typically do not prohibit simple teasing, offhand

comments, or minor isolated incidents. In the workplace, harassment may be considered illegal

when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it

results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted, or when

the victim decides to quit the job).

The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or

someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client. It includes a range of

behavior from mild transgressions to sexual abuse or sexual assault. Sexual harassment is a form
of illegal employment discrimination in many countries, and is a form of abuse sexual,

psychological and bullying. For many businesses and other organizations, preventing sexual

harassment, and defending employees from sexual harassment charges, have become key goals

of legal decision-making.

Sexual offers without an idea of retaliation can change the work environment for an

employee in an undesirable way. The difference between harmless sexual behaviors and sexual

harassment are not too clear or visible, therefore making it difficult to ban all sexuality found in

an organization. It is therefore important to set it clear that sexual behaviors that cause distress to

employees are unwanted.

Discrimination based on Sexual orientation

Sexual orientation discrimination refers to harassment or prong treatment based on someone's

perceived or actual gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or heterosexual orientation. Many workplaces, and

even a number of countries, have policies and laws against sexual orientation discrimination.

This discrimination may also occur because of a perception of someone's, whether that

perception is correct or not. Someone who is discriminated against on the basis of sexual

orientation may also be discriminated against or harassed on the basis of sex, gender identity,

disability and marital status. Examples of sexual orientation discrimination include:

 Different treatment: this is where one is not hired, not promoted, or fired explicitly

because his/her boss thinks you are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or straight. Some

organizations have company policies that explicitly discriminate against lesbian, gay and
 bisexual employees, while in other companies the discrimination is more subtle but no

less real. You may find that you start to be treated differently once you come out as

homosexual to coworkers or place a photograph of your same-sex partner on your desk.

 Harassment: you may also be forced to experience comments about your traits or

sexual activity, sexual jokes, requests for sexual favors, pressure for dates, touching or

grabbing, leering, gestures, hostile comments, pictures or drawings negatively portraying

lesbian and gay people, or sexual assault or rape. Your harasser may be an employer,

supervisor, co-worker, or client, and may be of the opposite or same sex.

EFFECTS OF JOB DISCRIMINATION ON INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP IN

THE WORKPLACE

Discrimination produces immense effects in the psychological, social, political, and

economic domains. Whether intended or not, the effects are compounded by the loss of self-

worth, a sense of alienation from the wider society, political disempowerment, and economic

inequalities. Prejudice and ethnic hostilities constitute a major danger to peace both within a

nation and among nations." As a consequence, the emergence of a new global moral order

increasingly provides a leverage point to counter the effects of prejudice and discrimination.

While many agree that the various international instruments to protect people against

prejudice and discrimination are still not universally followed or even implemented, it is clear

that a new international consciousness is indeed emerging and is, in fact, intensifying. Victims of

discrimination cope with these experiences in a variety of ways. As a response to experiences of

discrimination, victims often - consciously or unconsciously - develop a strategy of survival.

Some engage themselves in what might be called denial of discrimination. They may explain the

incident in terms other than discrimination, or even believe that the discriminatory framework

was legitimate, blaming themselves for what happened. One very typical strategy of survival is

avoidance, by way of which an individual seeks "voluntarily" to avoid situations in which the

probability to end up discriminated against is particularly high, by way of self-imposed

restrictions. From the point of view of the society this is not however a desirable strategy, as

lessened social contacts ruin the possibility of integrating vulnerable groups to the general

society. Discrimination leads to disunity which results in the dissolving of society, through strife

and war. World peace will elude our grasp while discrimination continue to bedevil the

collective life of humanity.

 Distancing nonverbal communication, like sitting farther away from someone, avoiding

eye contact, frowning or smiling less, hostile stares.

 Stereotypical remarks about another person, either in descriptions of people or in jokes.

 Verbal attacks or threats against someone, such as shouting insulting comments at people

on the street.

 Physical violence against a person.

 The psychological distress caused by any form of job discrimination causing health issues

and sleep deprivation.

 It can cause team conflict. That is, if the team leader has sexually harassed any of the

team members, it will cause team conflict and a very hostile work environment.

 Poor service in stores or restaurants, such as wait staff paying more attention to some

customers than others.

 Unequal treatment in conversations, such as ignoring or excluding someone.

 Invasions of personal space, such as inappropriate physical touching, using other people's

belongings, or staring.

CONCLUSION

Job discrimination is illegal, it is always against the company’s policies and has a

negative effect on the company. Companies should to ready to take actions against any

form of job discrimination, they should be impartial when it comes to taking decisions.

Discrimination is something that is wide spread, legal actions is not always available

against companies that discriminate.

A form of discrimination that seems unfair is the wage or salary differences. The

principles of comparable worth might be necessary to combat or fight against such

discriminatory practices. Sexual harassment in particular has a lot of harm on the

participant or receiver of such harm and this doesn’t just affect the physical health of the

employee but the emotional and social aspect of their lives.

REFERENCE

Philosophy- what are the effects of discrimination on society philosophy essay

Ataov, T. (2002), Discrimination and Conflict, SOTA Publication, Amsterdam

Cox, T. (Jr.). (1993), Cultural diversity in organizations, theory, research and practice.

San Fransisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishing

Paludi, M. and Barickman, A. (1991). Academic and Workplace Sexual Harassment.

Pastor Daniel Dei, Principles of Christian Ethics.