Discrimination and

Harassment
 Discrimination
• Discrimination is that a person is deprived of some benefit or opportunity because
of membership in some group that faces substantial prejudice.
• Discrimination in employment, which is our concern here, generally arises from the
decisions employers make about hiring, promotion, pay, fringe benefits, and the other
terms and conditions of employment that directly affect the economic interests of
employees.
• Firstly, discrimination involves decisions that directly affect the employment status of
individuals or the terms and conditions of their employment; that is, discrimination
occurs in what are generally regarded as personnel decisions, such as those involving
hiring and firing, promotion, pay, advancement opportunities, and the like.

• Secondly, the unequal treatment results from prejudice or some other morally
unjustified attitude against members of the group to which an individual belongs. In
cases of discrimination, individuals are not treated on the basis of individual merit but
on the basis of membership in a group.
 Discrimination
• There are many types of discrimination such as
Sex Discrimination. In the interpretation of Title VII, sex discrimination is discrimination
based on the fact that a person is male or female and not on sex-related matters, such
as sexual orientation or marital status.
Religious Discrimination. Religious discrimination is substantially different from
discrimination based on race or sex. There are instances, to be sure, of religious
discrimination in which employers refuse to hire or promote individuals simply because of
prejudice against members of certain religious groups, such as Catholics, Jews, and
Muslims. Most charges of religious discrimination in employment, however, involve
conflicts between the religious beliefs and practices of employees and workplace rules
and routines.
National Origin Discrimination. National origin discrimination overlaps discrimination
based on race, color, and, to some extent, religion. It is conceptually distinct, however,
because an employer could have been Arab or Mexican.
 Discrimination
• Age Discrimination. Age discrimination results largely from the benefits
that employers perceive in shunting older employees aside to make
room for younger employees whom they believe have more
up-to-date skills and innovative ideas. Younger employees are less
expensive to employ because older employees generally have higher
salaries and make more extensive use of fringe benefits.

• Handicap Discrimination. In many respects, discrimination against the

handicapped is like religious discrimination rather than discrimination
on the basis of race or sex. Employing the handicapped often requires
that they be treated differently in order to compensate for their
disabilities. It may be argued that employers ought to be willing to
make reasonable accommodations for the impairments or disabilities
of the handicapped, just as they are obligated to make reasonable
accommodations for the religious beliefs of their employees.
 Sexual Harassment

► Sexual Harassment is the improper sexual conduct in the workplace—which includes lewd and
suggestive comments, touching and fondling, persistent attention, and requests for sexual favors.

► Two kinds of harassment.

• One is quid pro quo harassment, in which a superior, who is usually a man, uses his power to grant
or deny employment benefits to exact sexual favors from a subordinate, who is usually a woman.

• The other kind is hostile working environment harassment, in which the sexual nature of the
conduct of coworkers and others causes a woman (or a man) to be very uncomfortable.
 Objection against discrimination and
harassment

► There are, first, straightforward utilitarian arguments that cite the ways discrimination harms
individuals, business firms, and society as a whole.

► A second kind of argument appeals to the Kantian notions of human dignity and respect for
persons.

► Third is from the principle of justice.