Discrimination - Essay Example

Discrimination Introduction Isn’t it true that discrimination has been emerging in new, disgusting racial, age, religious, sex, employment and social forms? (Tyler, “Employers face new discrimination headache,” Telegraph, 2003: 10). Could anything dampen the worrying effect of discrimination that often produces feelings of discomfort and desperation in the minds of the victims? This research argues convincingly the danger of the common kind of discrimination in several societies; which is employment discrimination. Doesn’t the International Journal of discrimination and the Law (Easton, “encountering discrimination,” International Journal of Discrimination and law, 2007: 24) confirm that an individual is liable to facing one kind of discrimination or the other in the course of carrying out his/her employment obligations? Because this inconvenient circumstance is becoming rampant in the society today, it is important to take a cognizance look at it. Employment discrimination can occur at any workplace based on these two different perspectives: discrimination theories and sociological factors. However, were Lindemann et al. (Lindemann, Grossman & Weirich, “Theories of discrimination,” Employment Discrimination Law, 2007: 9-265) pragmatic when they posit that discrimination theories rally around everything about the practices of disparate treatment among workers; deliberate failure to provide an acceptable accommodation for the worker involved; and the adverse impact of the practices mentioned earlier? Do the sociological factors only include discrimination by the reason of sexual orientation and gender identity; race and color; national origin and citizenship and religion? Are there no other unstated social factors to explain the debilitating effect of discrimination? (Lindemann, Grossman & Weirich, “Prohibited Bases of Discrimination,” Employment Discrimination Law, 2007: 273-551). How long would the public endure discriminating at the place of work when sociological factors are mainly used as the yardsticks for employment discrimination? Employment discrimination hurts like open wound; but is there any cogent responses to this social malaise? Well, the most prominent one being the redemptive action of government in every country promulgating laws that strongly encourage fairness at the places of work, and giving helpful instructions on how to handle the instance of employment discrimination (Federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Laws. Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination: Questions and Answers, www.eeoc.gov/facts/qanda.html, 2002, visited on November 5, 2008). To what extent could they address the issue of discrimination? Sometimes, though, political solution is applied to overturn the discriminating decisions that a firm might have made concerning its employees, whether for reasons for sexual orientation or the other (Neuman, “House votes to extend employment protections to gays,” Boston Globe, 2007: 12). Are these political solutions by any chance fair and effective? Also, a group of employees could co-operate together and institute a legal suit against their employer and its management. It has happened in some companies that workers are maltreated because of their sex (Greenhouse, “Wal-Mart Sex-Bias Suit Given Class-Action Status,” New York Times, 2004: 28). Is this kind of approach always feasible? It is a fact that sex-bias could create a condition of discomfort for those that are affected. But what exactly could the legal suit recover? Is it the loss of self-esteem or the social degradation associated with sex-bias? Nowadays, it is possible to get justice at the workplace without actually being helped out by workers’ unions: the introduction of labor arbitration in a locality has reduced the worker’s expenses at seeking justice at the law court. But how efficient are they? Are the processes not cumbersome and time wasting? Even though the labor arbitration seeks to resolve employment disputes, which may include the issues of workplace discrimination, by fairly considering the both parties involved in it: namely, the employer and the employee, has it been working for a greater population of workers worldwide? (Wheeler, Klaas & Mahony, “Employment Arbitration,” Workplace Justice without unions, 2004: 15-32). The national law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein (The National Law Firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein. $40 million paid to Class Members in December 2005 in Abercrombie & Finch Discrimination Lawsuit Settlement. www.afjustice.com, 2007, visited on November 5, 2008) reports a groundbreaking legal victory against the giant American clothing company, Abercrombie & Finch, whose products mainly target teenagers and young people. The company was accused of discrimination in its hiring practices: its two main kinds of crime are gender and racial discriminations. Abercrombie & Finch preferred, for reasons publicly undisclosed, that its bulk of employees should be “white” and “male”. Any other persons of different races or female were denied equal employment opportunity. “On April 14, 2005, Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted final approval to a settlement of the class action lawsuit Gonzalez v. Abercrombie & Fitch. The settlement requires the retail clothing giant to pay $40 million dollars to Latino, African American, Asian American and female applicants and employees who charged the company with discrimination” (The National Law Firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein. $40 million paid to Class Members in December 2005 in Abercrombie & Finch Discrimination Lawsuit Settlement. www.afjustice.com, 2007, visited on November 5, 2008). It is improper to ask, could such huge legal victory totally eradicate discrimination from the company? Is discrimination not a social factor perpetrated by the humans, and not the inanimate laid-down corporate management structure? To certain degree, this legal victory to the affected employees forces Abercrombie & Finch to reform its employment practices by putting in place modalities that would guarantee fairness and equity. The new hiring practices would pay attention to diversity and embrace the Federal Equal Opportunity Employment statute. And the company establishes internal complaint procedures for employees that are maltreated to voice out their concerns appropriately. Abercrombie & Finch undergoes a aggressive hiring of both female and non-white workers to quickly attain a condition of diversity and position itself as company ready to play fair and lawful in all its operations, including employment. There are reports of lawsuits against employment discrimination but which the employees couldn’t win. Kakoulos (Kakoulas, Employment Discrimination: Be Careful What You Sue For, www.bmezine.com/news/guest/20040405.html, 2004, visited on November 5, 2008) advises workers to do their homework before heading to the court to seek legal redress. Employment discrimination is harsh and inconvenient, but more depressing is approaching the issue without enough preparation. Many plaintiffs have rushed to the court with the hope of winning the case, but they find themselves in a grueling loss that could affect them psychologically. So, it is imperative that employees study carefully their employment terms and the company’s laws or regulations before jumping into seeking a legal redress about employment discrimination. In a way, should all employment discrimination case be taken to court? Do some of the cases have the merits that could warrant legal victory? 　 Conclusion It is almost impossible to think that employment discrimination could be totally eradicated from workplaces. The reason for this is that human propensity to bully or harass one another is inherent, and to some extent, difficult to control. However, the enactment of anti-discrimination law, a broad category, that covers sex, racial, religious, social, sexual orientation and employment discrimination could deter employers or other members of management from carrying out any discriminatory practices at the workplace (Connolly & Townshend-Smith, “Discrimination in Employment,” Townshend-Smith on Discrimination Law: Text, Cases and Materials, 2004: 313-327). This would establish an atmosphere of equity and respect for one another identity, religion, race, gender and sexual orientations. Cited Works 1. Wheeler, Hoyt H., Klaas Brian S. & Mahony, Douglas M. Workplace Justice Without Unions. Kalamazo, Michigan: W.E. Upjohn Institute, 2004. 2. Connolly, Michael C. and Townshend-Smith, Richard. Townshend-Smith on Discrimination Law: Text, Cases and Materials. Oxford: Routledge-Cavendish, 2004. 3. Lindemann, Barbara, Grossman, Paul & Weirich, Geoffrey C. Employment Discrimination Law. Arlington: BNA Books, 2007. 4. The National Law Firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein. $40 million paid to Class Members in December 2005 in Abercrombie & Finch Discrimination Lawsuit Settlement. www.afjustice.com, 2007, visited on November 5, 2005. 5. Federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Laws. Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination: Questions and Answers, www.eeoc.gov/facts/qanda.html, 2002, visited on November 5, 2008. 6. Kakoulas, Marisa. Employment Discrimination: Be Careful What You Sue For, www.bmezine.com/news/guest/20040405.html, 2004, visited on November 5, 2008. 7. Greenhouse, Steven, “Wal-Mart Sex-Bias Suit Given Class-Action Status,” New York Times, 2004, retrieved on November 5, 2008. 8. Tyler, Richard, “Employers face new discrimination headache,” The Telegraph, 2003, retrieved on November 5, 2008. 9. Neuman, Johanna, “House votes to extend employment protections to gays,” Boston Globe, 2007, retrieved on November 5, 2008. 10. Easton, Susan. International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, “encountering discrimination”, International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, 2007, retrieved on November 5, 2008. 　　　　　　　　　 Read More