Ethics of

Job
discrimination
• Discrimination – the wrongful act of distinguishing illicitly among people
not on the basis of individual merit, but on the basis of prejudice or
some other invidious or morally reprehensible attitude.

• E.g. – employment discrimination in US-

religious groups – Jews & Catholics
ethnic groups – Italians, Poles & Irish
racial groups – Blacks & Asians
Forms of discrimination

• Isolated behavior (intentional)- male interviewer preferring women

candidates
• Routine behavior
• Isolated behavior (unintentional)- individual unthinkingly adopts
traditional practices & stereotypes
• Systematic routine of org to discriminate against women or
minorities
• Affirmative action program –
A program designed to ensure the proportion of minorities within an org
matches their proportion in the available workforce
Discrimination & Law

• Civil rights Act of 1964 – made it illegal to make it

hiring, firing, or compensation decisions on the
basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin
• Executive order 11246 – required co’s doing
business with the federal govt. to to take steps to
redress racial imbalance in workforce
• Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 – gave
EEOC increased power to combat “underutilization”
& to require affirmative action programs
Extent of discrimination

• Average benefits
• Placing discriminated groups at lowest levels of institutions
• More advantageous positions to preferred ones
• Discrimination in US –
(i) The income gap b/w Whites & minorities has not
decreased
(ii) Large Y inequalities based on sex exist
(iii) Black unemployment is more than twice as high as
Whites
(iv) Minority poverty rate is 2-3 times of Whites
(v) Poverty rate of families headed by women is 3
times that of male headed ones
(vi) Most higher-paying jobs go to white males
• Glass ceiling – an invisible, but impenetrable barrier to further
promotion sometimes encountered by women or minorities
• Increasing problems for women & minorities –
(i) Women & minorities make up most new workers
(ii) Women are steered into low-paying jobs & face a glass ceiling &
sexual harassment
• Utilitarian arguments which claims that discrimination leads to an
inefficient use of human resources
• Rights arguments violates basic human rights
• Justice arguments which claims that discrimination results in an unjust
distribution of society’s benefits & burdens
Utility

• Discriminating job applicants on the basis of

race, sex, or other characteristics unrelated to
job performance is necessarily inefficient &
contrary to utilitarian principles
• Objections encountered:
(i) The jobs shud be assigned on the basis of job
related qualifications only so long as such
assignments will advance the public welfare
(ii) Society as a whole may benefit from some forms
of sexual discrimination
Rights

• Discriminatory practices violate the principle in two ways :

(i) Racial & sexual discrimination is based on stereotypes that see
minorities as “lazy” or “shiftless” & women as “emotional” &
“weak”.
(ii) Placing members at lower positions, lower salaries & lower job
opportunities
Justice

• Principle of equal opportunity – social & economic inequalities are to be

arranged so that they are attached to offices & positions open to all
under conditions of fair equality of opportunity
Discriminating practices

• Recruitment practices – word of mouth referrals,

only White males, for MEN only
• Screening practices – disqualifying minority class
who are unfamiliar with the language, concepts &
social situations in the aptitude & intelligence tests
• Promotion practices
• Conditions of employment – less wages & salaries
to women & minorities, providing secretarial or
clerical positions only, less benefits
• Sexual harassment