The U.S. labor force has increased over the years, and it now comprises people from all walks of life, with Hispanics being the fastest-growing source of labor. It is therefore essential to shed light on the issue of discrimination in the workplace, to not only bridge the gap and disparities that exist in the workplace but also to create a level ground for all employees where assessment, evaluation, and reward are based on merit rather than age, gender or race. Legally discrimination can be defined as the differential, less favorable treatment because of one’s race or treatment based on insufficiently justifiable grounds, adversely affecting the disadvantaged group (Blank, Dabady &Citro 2004).
Discrimination in the workplace will take many forms; this includes being overlooked during a promotion, failure to address individual concerns mainly because of gender, age, disability, or race, or a performance evaluation system that fails to recognize a person’s efforts due to any of the just stated factors. In the labor forces market domain, this paper seeks to evaluate whether Maria was discriminated against because of both her gender and her Hispanic race. Therefore, the various theories that attempt to explain discrimination will come in handy in determining whether Maria’s case can be termed as discrimination.
Is it a discriminatory case?
According to one of the critical pillars in psychology, Gordon Alipore, explicit discrimination mainly includes verbal antagonism, segregation, avoidance, and physical violence and extermination (Blank, Dabady &Citro 2004). However, this does not mean that discrimination cannot occur implicitly or in a more subtle form, such as nonverbal hostility. This is, in fact, the most common form of discrimination in today’s modern world since it is more challenging to prove, unlike explicit discrimination. Nonverbal hostility will include disparate treatment such as undermining the employee’s efforts and avoidance where an employee is limited to specific departments to ensure minimal contact with the dominant group.
Prejudicial attitudes can be termed as the perceptions or, better still, misperceptions that a dominant group will have regarding the disadvantaged groups. Prejudicial attitudes may not necessarily translate into discrimination; they can build up to form unconscious forms of discrimination. Prejudicial attitudes are of many forms.
One of them is the subtle prejudices. These beliefs and perceptions unconsciously alter a person’s behavior towards the disadvantaged group. In this scenario, perhaps the general perception of Hispanics as violent could be the main reason why the company views Maria as loud and aggressive. Even though this statement could be an allegation or the plain truth, the company might have unconsciously blown Maria’s aggressive behavior out of proportion based on this perception. This in itself may not constitute discrimination but taking into account that this could be one of the reasons why Maria was not promoted. Therefore, it may qualify as a form of discrimination in this context(Blank, Dabady &Citro 2004).
Another form of prejudice is indirect prejudice. In this case, the person or employer uses the faults of the member of the out-group as an excuse to deny them opportunities, resources, or upward mobility in the workplace. Such supposed faults could include gender, linguistics, sexuality, or even religion. The employer will focus undue attention on these aspects, and the person under scrutiny will inherently fall below the required mark even though they might be qualified(Blank, Dabady &Citro 2004). Maria’s case is a practical example of this principle. She has been with the company long enough to gain the required experience and has the required skills needed to fill the vacancy. The company, however, dismisses her application because she lacks proficiency in English. However, are these justifiable grounds for not considering her for the post?
Ambivalent prejudice is a form of prejudice where the group or individual is not subjected to complete and constant disapproval. In this case, the employer will acknowledge the employer’s skills and ability or even remarkable performance; however, he will go farther ahead and discredit the employee as not qualified because of specific attributes (Blank, Dabady &Citro 2004). The ultimate result is that the individual or employee fails to qualify. Maria’s case lends credibility to this principle in that the company claims that Maria is a good employee, but her heavily accented English impedes her ability to communicate clearly. On the one hand, the company acknowledges that Maria is a good employee but goes ahead to discredit her based on her poor communication skill. It is also interesting to note that the company terms Maria as a good employee. This is, however, not reflected in her performance evaluation forms.
Ambiguous prejudices reinforce the types mentioned above of prejudices. In this case, the employee favors majority group members and discriminates against the minority group. In an attempt to justify this behavior, the employer will use the positive attributes of the member of the majority group. The company uses Alex’s ability to communicate appropriately provides as an excuse for overlooking Maria, who has spent a long time with the company.
Discrimination can also take many forms. Direct and indirect forms, Individual and structural forms, and statistical forms. Direct discrimination occurs when an individual or organization explicitly and intentionally discriminates against somebody based on gender, race, color, or other attributes they deem inferior or repulsive. In this case, the discrimination is implicit. Indirect discrimination occurs when the implementation of specific rules and policies adversely affects the disadvantaged group(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2011).
Individual discrimination is a form of direct discrimination where an individual or a few individuals explicitly and intentionally discriminate against a particular group’s member(s). In this case, the motive to discriminate is outright and clear. This form of discrimination can involve anyone: a person from the minority group can discriminate against persons of the majority group and is therefore not restricted to particular people. This form of discrimination can be termed institutional discrimination on a large scale. The intention to discriminate remains a possibility in this case, whereby the company might have overlooked Maria on genuine grounds; it is also highly likely that even though the intent to discriminate is not apparent, it does exist, and the company uses Maria’s lack of proficiency in English as a scapegoat to conceal explicit discriminating behavior (Pincus, 2000).
Structural discrimination occurs in the form of indirect discrimination. When a particularly disadvantaged group is negatively affected by specific rules and regulations, this is not deliberate, nor was their intention to discriminate during the formation of the rules. This scenario can be termed a case of structural discrimination. The company’s policy which requires that an employee only qualifies to work in a position that involves direct contact with the customer adversely affects the likes of Maria, to whom English is a second language. This policy inherently locks out opportunities and chances of upward mobility for employees of a particular ethnicity or race. This in itself is a form of Discrimination (Pincus, 2000).
Statistical discrimination, also termed profiling, involves basing one’s decisions about an individual using a broad set of collective beliefs regarding the group from which that individual comes. This can take two forms: Maria’s gender or her race. The uncertainty surrounding the hiring decision may prompt the company to hire Alex based on his gender since men are perceived to have a higher sense of stability than women.
This is outright Discrimination because Maria has held her current position for seven years, which is clear proof of stability. Her employees’ perception of her Hispanic race could also have attributed to the discrimination that resulted in Maria being overlooked during promotion and failing to evaluate her job performance accurately. This view can be affirmed by the fact that she is the only Hispanic employee in the company.
Based on factual grounds, it is evident that Maria was discriminated against partly because of her gender and primarily because of her race and skin color.
The company’s position regarding the issue
The essence of communication is passing the message by using comprehendible means. In this case, the company’s demand for unaccented English is neither practical nor ethically correct. In a sense, this is a form of perpetual discrimination. The company will only seem a lucrative employer to people of a particular race whose English is fluent and unaccented.
Technically even if this policy were to be upheld, then employees such as Maria, whose English is unaccented, would legally fall in the category of qualified employees with disability. The rehabilitation act/ADA stipulates that employers create and foster an accommodating environment for all, ensuring each employee has equal access to opportunities, with exceptions being made only when such an undertaking is expensive(Hegewisch, Deitch &Murphy,20110. Maria is well experienced and has the skills; if her communication problem hampers her ability to hold a position where she has direct contact with customers, the company can restructure her job or lend her another equally lucrative vacant position where her communication skills are not essential.
Recommendations
This sort of scenario impacts negatively on the company. It may tarnish the company’s image, lower productivity from the employees due to a non-motivated staff, and create a hostile working environment. Therefore, it is essential that the company addresses this problem and finds a way of preventing this kind of scenario from occurring again.
The company can incorporate a program that continuously trains the employees with the skill they will need in the workplace or allows them to be on the same level as other employees. This ensures that all employees are on the same level in terms of social or communication skills or any other skill that might give one party an undue advantage against the other in the workplace. This kind of training would have seen Maria get the essential communication skills during the ten years she had been working for the company.
There are many laws and regulations which protect employees from discrimination. However, employees’ are still being discriminated against. This creates the need for the company to take account and responsibility for its management decisions. Therefore, the company should open its doors to independent evaluation programs and audits by independent bodies. External assessment will ensure that the company works towards promoting fair work practices.
The candidate’s name should not include gender or name during the hiring and promotion process. This will eliminate the embedded stereotypes which may unconsciously alter the employer’s behavior to discriminate against gender. However, this is based on the proper and fair performance appraisal methods that give correct job evaluations.
References.
Blank. R, Dabadie.M, Citro, C (2004). Measuring racial discrimination. Theories of Discrimination in the work place.pg55-70.National Academies Press. Washington D.C.
Hegeswich. A Deitch.C&Murphy.E(2011). Ending sex and race discrimination in the workplace. Legal interventions that push the envelope. Institute of women policy research
Pincus. F (2000). Discrimination comes in many forms in the workplace: individual and institutional. Accessed on 10 April 2013.Available on<www.wacampuscompact.org/…/…>
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2011). Discrimination.