Racial Discrimination in US Employment

The United States has been long considered as a nation defined by diversity. An article from the website Mesriani Law Group mentioned that this country is a point where in culture and faces meet. It is the union of languages into one word, and images of many people into one name. However, it cannot be helped that cultures would clash, and the array of disagreements could be far and wide. It cannot be helped that some minds could remain closed even after all the decades different people co-existed. There remains biases and stereotypes, which label so many people with negative names.

Although there has been actions and campaigns to counter this unjust behavior in society, it cannot be helped that the ideal one nation is still under construction. Racial discrimination is also most evident in the workplace, where the battle for the better color continues. It could be the pressure from the norms constructed then construed by society. It could be the tradition they never outgrew. It could be the close-mindedness of people developed by years of inclusion from the many realities of life.

Whatever caused this unjust treatment in the workplace, it persists to be a problem in an individuals professional life. This paper aimed to give light to the basic laws that protect the employees from the different forms of discrimination in the workplace. Finding the basic information one should know about this unjust activities is essential in finding conclusions regarding the matter. Furthermore, this paper aims to relate cases into the deliberation to have a firmer grasp about the issue at hand. This is to re-establish the reality of this issue in the country.

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Discussion Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 With the rise in statistics regarding racial discrimination in the country, laws were also raised and deliberated upon to protect those who experience this kind of injustice. According to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, there is a law that aimed to protect the individuals who are discriminated against due to their race and place of origin, as well as their sexual orientation and religion. The law also aimed to protect those who are discriminated due to the color of their hair and eyes.

This category also includes individuals who are in anyway associated with any particular culture that is different from the host country. This law is the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Employment cannot be denied of any person due to the color of their skins. This law also mentioned that it is applicable to any organization. The local and state government organizations are not exempted from this law and should abide by it. Under this law, it is also prohibited to make organizational decisions based on the stereotypes and general assumptions of different cultures.

They cannot point specifically the different races, even those multi-racial individuals, when regarding the total functioning of the organization. In this light, it is considered unlawful to evaluate an individual for recruitment, hiring promotion and termination based on the color of their skin. Their wages and other privileges in their employment should not be affected by this factor as well. Organizations should be very particular that they do not have policies that may spite or render a culture discriminated against. Instead, they should be able to adapt a one culture that discourages racial slurs and prejudices.

Kinds of Racial Discrimination in the Workplace According to the aforementioned website Mesriani, there are two kinds of situations wherein racial discrimination occurs. This needs to be re-established so find certain solutions to remedy the predicament. The first kind of racial discrimination is the Disparate Treatment. This is the basic form of racial discrimination where the individual is judged by his or her ethnic background and other similar characteristics that may bring about a similar impact on the individual. The second kind is called Disparate Impact.

This, on the other hand, is discrimination brought about by the policies rendered by management, which had a negative effect on an individual based on the color of his or her skin. Website Making Sense also mentioned these kinds of racial discrimination. But they called these as Direct and Indirect discrimination respectively. Those Who Need Protection These people who are being discriminated against need all the protection they could get. They are the people of color, and there exists a certain spite in between. As much as anyone would need, an individual needs to make a living to survive this fast paced society.

If they would be discriminated against in employment, then these individuals are only offered the kind of jobs that were stereotyped to fit them. They will not be able to grow, not have any professional advancement, regardless of their capabilities and educational attainment. Furthermore, a lot of individuals of color have superior knowledge and skills. But because of discrimination, they cannot surpass judgmental eyes and their own aspirations. They are unable to make a career and a life because certain people think that they are not capable of doing anything except for menial and routine jobs.

Should not one look far beyond, and go deeper than the color of one's skin? Those Who are Liable On the other hand, who are liable for this kind of unjust treatment in the workplace? Website the New Black Magazine wrote that those who ultimately are liable in such situations are the employers. They are in charge and are responsible for the welfare of every employee, regardless of race and certain physical features of an individual. When an employee is involved in the case of discrimination, both he and the employers are taken during the deliberation.

It is a rare case though, as the magazine mentioned, for the employer to win against a case of racial discrimination in their office. In the cases when they do, the case continues against the employee involved. Race Relations Act of 1976 Simultaneously, there is another act that aims to protect different races. This is called the Race Relations Act of 1976. This, on the other hand, also aims to protect individuals not only in employment but also in housing, education, and the availing of other products and services.

On top of daunting discrimination, as the earlier law entailed, this law is aimed to encourage race equality. It takes the issue of equal rights across cultures to a higher level. A Council under this Act is conjured for three reasons. They should eradicate discrimination against different racial groups, promote opportunities across the culture, as well as to reinforce the importance of having good relations between racial groups. Growing Statistics Despite the Improvements According to USA Today, there is a 24% increase in the number of cases about racial discrimination in the workplace.

This was reported by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. There are 6, 977 cases reported in the year 2007, in comparison to the 5, 646 of the previous year. The article also mentioned that the number of reported unjust activities to the commission was raised to more than half since the year 1991. It was also written that the Commission is yet to study the sudden rise in numbers. However, their speculations are that the spike began with the case about six black teenagers and their white classmate. This injustice also stretched to the offices no one would have found unethical in this sense.

On the other hand, an article from the New York Times also mentioned that there is an obvious increase in the number of racial discrimination cases in the workplace. Author Linda Greenhouse mentioned that the Supreme Court has been rather active regarding this kind of cases. One of the cases newly reported then is concerned about the protection of one employee who retaliated against a discriminating supervisor. The other was based on age. Although Title VII also included protection individuals against retaliation, the article mentioned that certain courts do not take this as serious as they should.

Moreover, this kind of protection was only given to those employees who instigated the complaint against their employers, or those who formally approached the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In this regard, an article from the website Human Rights Watch implied that despite the growing number of cases about racial discrimination in the US workplace, those in government still failed to find an answer to completely annihilate the problem. They have been battling with the issue for so many years, and yet the statistics continue to rise. They have signed and implemented many of these laws, but there are more unhappy employees.

The laws they created looked very promising. Actually, it promised a lot of things. It promised protection and be on equal footing in regards to employment. Yet the stereotypes remain to be eradicated. The color of the individual's skin is assumed to be tied with a certain kind of job, despite the achievement and credibility he or she carries. The above mentioned article said that there was little progress, even during the time of Clinton. The public officials each have an obligation to the advancement regarding the human rights of each individual in their country. Yet many did not fulfill them, or chose to ignore the rising issue.

The article mentioned that thousand of workers are discriminated against, harassed and threatened each year because these individuals persisted that they practice their rights to employment. Moreover, in certain states, there were campaigns against migrant workers. The research studies done my many organizations about the issue should be a signal loud enough for the politicians to move. Unfortunately, little effort was made on their part. Small Scale Beginning With this problem, the solution should start at a small scale. That is for the individual to have the initiative to make that change.

By beginning from where the case occurred, the government might be further called that the people are doing something about it, and that they need the full support of the people the citizens voted into those positions. The victim should first know his or her rights as an employee. He should be educated about the laws by the government and the policies and regulations of the company regarding their welfare in the workplace. Being educated is their biggest defense. With this knowledge, they would know when employers are being discriminatory of their employment. They could be discriminated against for many reasons.

However, it is racial discrimination in the workplace that is most prominent in the a diverse country such as the United States. Backed with this basic tool, an individual will be able to recognize when an employer or co-employee is being discriminative of his person as a man of color. When this situation rise, he or she should immediately report this to the authorities. In the recent years, authorities have been more strict about these situations, and protection can definitely be attained. In this light, there remains the question why, despite the laws for protection, these kinds of problems continue to rise.

They have become more strict, yet there were no significant changes. Responsibility of the Employer On the other hand, the employers should also do something about this kind of injustice in the organizations they own or manage. The Race Relations Act gave suggestions to what employers should do especially when they are held liable to every name listed in their payrolls. According to the act, the employer should take charge in monitoring their staff, including the applicants for hiring and candidates for promotion and further training. On top of this, they should be able to monitor the grievances by these employees.

It should be well documented. No matter how minimal the complaint is, they should always give just attention to it. In line with this, they should also monitor the cases wherein disciplinary actions were implemented. This is also to see if their part as an employer is doing what they can in their level. They should also be able to monitor the outcomes of performance assessment of the employees. While they are taking care of the welfare of each employee, they should still be able to keep the performance of the employees in line with the objectives of the company.

This is to keep the employee's end of the bargain intact and active. As the nature of business is, it is a give and take relationship. It is also important for the employers to monitor the type of training they have for their employees, and who are taking these trainings. Training has a huge effect on the kind of work life existing in the workplace. If their training have any effect on the behavior of their employees, then there are also effects on the output of each employee. Lastly, the Race Relations Act also suggests that employers should take note of the people who were dismissed or have resigned from the organization.

The statistics from these numbers could lead to how the organization should change, if necessary, or if there are some improvements that could utilize for both their benefit as well as that of the employees. Conclusion Racial discrimination in the US work environment is a reality one will eventually have to face. When one thought that this kind of prejudice only happens in the the community, it also stretch in the offices both small and broad across the country. Many are affected as there are a wide array of cultures that clash against each other. It cannot be helped that there are cultures that will ultimately contradict the next.

However, when dealing with professionalism, these biases and prejudices should be put aside for the progress of both the individual and the organization. There is progress on the laws being implemented for the protection of these individuals. Unfortunately, it is not yet enough to cover all grounds. There is politics where there should not be. There is already injustice to those who are in charge of doing justice. In the end, the people help themselves until they are given full support. Racial discrimination should not exist in the office or the community. It should not exist at all.

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