Discrimination Laws and Adopting Hiring and Promotion Practices to Diversify the Workforce

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (42 U.S.C. 2000e and proceeding) makes it illegal to discriminate against job applicants or employees based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Title VII also prohibits any form of retaliation against an employee or an applicant who complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or took part or provided help in the investigations (Belton, 1975). The law also does not allow discrimination in all terms, conditions, and privileges of work such as hiring, firing, benefits, compensation, promotions, and, and assignments. Lastly, the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits harassment of employees or job applicants by protected characteristics such as race, sex, color, and so on.

The illustrations above indicate the significance of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in the workplace. The law is a representation of democracy without which, the rights of workers would be profoundly undermined. This paper aims to analyze the benefits and costs of voluntarily adopting policies and procedures prohibiting three forms of discrimination in workplaces in case the Title VII of the Civil Rights ceases to be constitutional through a court order. Also, this essay discusses the benefits and costs of voluntarily adopting hiring and promotion practices that help to diversify the workforce. Lastly, the paper evaluates the ethical considerations of not deliberately prohibiting the forms of discrimination and the hiring and promotion practices that diversify the workforce discussed.

Benefits and Costs of Voluntarily Prohibiting Forms of Discrimination Prohibited Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Prohibiting Unfair Documentary Practices. Voluntarily banning this form of discrimination is significant if the federal anti-discrimination laws cease to exist. Unfair documentary practices in the workplace involve treating individuals differently from others by sex, color, national origin, immigration status, or religion (US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1964). Such practices include requesting that an applicant produce more or different documents than required by Form 1-9, or that individuals produce an irrelevant document in such a situation like the "Green Card" to establish identity or employment authorization. Also, treating individuals differently from others during the verification of employment eligibility forms part of the unfair practices. Therefore, by prohibiting these acts, the employer increases his or her chances of acquiring skilled and dedicated workforce from a group of applicants. For this, the productivity of the business is likely to increase. For example, there are specific jobs that can be done better by incorporating men and women, or blacks and whites in the workforce rather than by choosing discriminately.

Equal Pay for Equal Work. Adoption of equal pay for similar work done by employees regardless of sex is significant in the workplace. The law illustrates that it is illegal to pay women less than men for the same work or pay the men less than women for the same job. However, the studies show that women are the most affected by unequal pay. Therefore, by voluntarily adopting the Equal Pay Act of 1963, employers can provide a balance from wages to women. By doing this, employers can increase the morale of their workers. In turn, the competency of the employees will increase. They will instead compete for ranks by performing better. Still, adopting this regulation comes at a cost. For instance, it may result in a decrease in income, and living conditions of employees based on health and competence thereby causing a deterrence in the operation of the supply of labor resources.

Prohibiting National Origin Discrimination. National origin discrimination happens when an employee is treated differently from others based on his or her country of origin concerning hiring, firing, compensation, or recruitment among others. A person's origin implies his or her place of birth, country of origin, ancestry, language, accent, or ethnic background. First of all, by prohibiting this form of discrimination, the employer preserves the reputation of its business. Today, people are unlikely to buy good or get services from firms promoting ethnic discrimination. Apart from safeguarding its reputation, the employer is likely to get staff with exceptional skills from a group of applicants rather than discriminating in the selection process. Conversely, by adopting this law, the employer will find it difficult to measure the marginal product of each worker. Because of this, the employer will have an economic incentive to hire fewer individuals based on race, color or sex.

Benefits and Costs of Voluntarily Prohibiting a Form of Discrimination not Covered by the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Prohibiting Sexual Orientation Discrimination. The Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects against workplace based on color, sex, religion, and so on. However, there is currently no federal law prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination private workplace. However, employees working for the federal government are protected from sexual orientation discrimination. This form of discrimination in the workplace occurs when a worker is subjected to harassment or denial of certain benefits because of his or her sexual orientation. Individuals who are most susceptible to this form of discrimination include the gays, bisexual, asexual, or pansexual. In my opinion, it is critical for employers to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination. Individuals who face this form of discrimination do not perform well in their work because of trauma. Issues like job status, working environment, and health benefits of the individual are also likely to be compromised. Consequently, the consequences can affect the productivity of the business.

Benefits and Costs of Voluntarily Adopting Hiring and Promotion Practices Designed to Diversify the Workforce.

The rapid increase in globalization calls for more interaction among people of diverse backgrounds. Today, most business firms and companies across the world do not operate in a confined environment but within a global framework. Therefore, to remain competitive in the world market, organizations need to embrace diversity in their respective work environments. They can achieve this by capitalizing and maximizing diverse workforce. Therefore, it is upon the supervisors and managers to develop strategies that accommodate a multicultural work environment.

Benefits of Diversity in Workplace. Diversity is useful to business associates and employers. Although the former are interdependent in the workplace, respecting differences in individuals can increase productivity. Firstly, diversity can help to reduce lawsuits and expand marketing opportunities, hiring, creativity and innovation, and the image of the firm. Secondly, diversity in the workplace helps to strengthen long-term "value-drivers." Value-drivers include the assets that increase the competitiveness of the companies, to make profits and satisfy their shareholders. Lastly, diversity helps to minimize consequences such as loss of time and money

Cost of Incorporating Diversity in Workplace. Organizations face different types of costs when they invest in workforce diversity policies. Such additional costs include the opportunity cost of diversity, cost of legal compliance, and cash cost of diversity. The former represents the loss of benefits because a limited resource cannot be used in other production processes. Cost of legal compliance include charges resulting from the training of staff, communication, and record-keeping systems. Lastly, cash cost of diversity arises from costs of education and training, benefits and working conditions, as well as employment policies.

Ethical Considerations of Not Voluntarily Prohibiting the Forms of Discrimination Laws Examined.

Even though statistics do not prove that job discrimination exists because of advantages and disadvantages accorded to various groups based on ethics, however, there are instances when discrimination can be associated with ethics. For example, in 1990, Price Waterhouse, an accounting firm, was sued for by Ann Hopkins, for denying her a senior position in the company because she was allegedly an abrasive and overbearing manager. However, the plaintiff indicated that she was not awarded the job because of her gender. She admitted that her co-workers taunted her to walk femininely. Also, reports suggest that some firms are reluctant to employ blacks and Hispanics by fearing that they are irrational or may act unethically during the job. However, this is sometimes not true as the judgment is catalyzed by prejudice.

Ethical Considerations of Not Voluntarily Adopting Hiring and Promotion Practices to Diversify the Workforce.

While many organizations recognize the significance of workplace diversity, this technique also raises ethical concerns among them. Critics argue that diversity opposes the idea of equality, to hiring the best candidate, and the reluctance to recruit women and minority groups in the workplace. Ethical concerns may arise when subordinates fail to recognize the authority of their superiors who are women or minority. They often view it as degrading. The result of this is a workforce which is not motivated to work hard in their positions thus lowering productivity and job satisfaction. As a result, the employer will consider not to adopt hiring and promotion practices to diversify the workforce voluntarily.

Conclusion

Incorporating various forms of discrimination laws and hiring and promotion practices that diversify workforce in the workplace is critical to the success of a company or any other organization. Therefore, it is necessary for firms to adopt rules and regulations that protect employees and job applicants from any form of discrimination. Employment discrimination has adverse effects on the productivity of the company, as well as a psychological and emotional impact on the employee or applicant subjected to discrimination. Consequently, for organizations to maximize profits and maintain good customer relations, they must adopt laws that prohibit discrimination in the workplace. Lastly, the retailer should employ hiring and promotion practices designed to diversify the workplace to improve productivity.

References

Belton, R. (1975). Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Decade of Private Enforcement and Judicial Developments. . Louis ULJ, 20, 225.

US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (1964). Title VII of the civil rights act of 1964. Retrieved on January, 8.

Weaver, V. Ethical Issues Behinds Diversity Hiring and Promotion Diversity Hiring.

http://www. professionalpractice.asme.org/communications/diversity/index.htm