Essay on Discrimination in the Workplace

Discrimination is when someone has a bias opinion on a specific crowd of people due to their race, sex, religion, or order of rank. This basically goes hand in hand with the phrase judging a book by its cover meaning the person with the negative opinion will not give the other individual a fair chance for the reason being they are being stereotypical and not thinking of the other person’s talent, or character. A modern day example of discrimination would be if a male employer were to compensate a female employee a lower pay due to her gender. At some time in everyone’s life due to today society, we have all been victimized by discrimination. Whether it may be a dirty look from a random person, or the way you dress, talk, and even look.

There are lots of potential effects related to discrimination. It includes things like disempowerment, low self-esteem and self-identity and also marginalisation. I am now going to explain these effects and connect them with a case study.

Discrimination has many meaning and many different ways people can discriminate against others. Discriminations can be as simple as a person making a judgment against someone else by the way they dress or the way they speak or it can be the people are discriminated (out casted/left out) because they choose to be different or have a disability or different colour of skin or even religion. Discrimination is unfair treatment of a person action based on prejudice.

It is somewhat surprising that employers continue to violate employment laws dealing with discrimination. One case, Catterson v. Marymount Manhattan College, litigated and settled in 2013, was especially egregious. According to the EEOC (2013), the college had refused,

Age discrimination in the workforce is a major issue in Today’s society. Although this is hardly ever mentioned, it is a concern that affects the aging population and their work performance. Those who are of old age are often not given a chance and looked down on. They are thought of as being mentally and physically in decline, less adaptable, unwilling to be trained, and costly to the organization. The elderly are considered “slow workers.” They are often forced to work extra hard to prove to their employer, they are capable of working as effective as the young. Defining someone’s work performance according to their age is against the law. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) addresses discrimination against the older population. This Act was passed by congress to ensure people of age 40 and older are given fair judgment in the workforce; however, the maturing population of baby boomers has led to an increasing number of elderly workers. This has cause age discrimination to rise. It is important that we review and analyze age discrimination has a political issues that must be changed. Although ADEA sets out to help the aging population, changes should be made within the employer. In order to seek change, one must first understand ADEA and how it promotes fair treatment for the elderly.

The United States workforce is aging and as health care improves the older population is living longer. Because of this older individual are staying the job market longer, an employer or human resource person should keep this in mind and possibly review the office procedures and hiring processes. Age discrimination claims will continue to increase as the workforce continues to grow older. Human resources, managers, and employers must be proactive versus reactive to have policies in place in the event of a suit happens. There is more to discrimination than what is on the surface of things. According to Walsh, in his book Employment Law for Human Resource Practice, 4th Edition, “discrimination can be further separated into four legal theories, these being: disparate treatment, adverse impact, failure to reasonably accommodate, and retaliation” (Walsh, 2013). One of the main reasons for disparate treatment is that employers must be very careful not to base their decisions about their employees on a protected class’s characteristics. So what exactly is the key issue in disparate treatment? According to Walsh, discriminatory intent is the key. Whether or not the motive was intentional the policy maker created policy that was in violation of the ADEA.

In a perfect world, people would be equal in rights, opportunities, and responsibilities, despite their race or gender. In the world we live in, however, we always face all kinds of neglect based on different attributes. All over the United States, certain people treat others with prejudice because of particular features they possess. Unfortunately, prejudice and discrimination occur even in places which, by definition, should be free of all personal prejudices – specifically, in offices and other business surroundings. This tragedy is called workplace discrimination; not every unfair behavior at work, however, can be assessed as discrimination. Discrimination in the workplace happens when an employee experiences unfair treatment due to their race, gender, age, religion, marital status, national origin, disability or veteran status, or other characteristics. Discrimination is one of the largest issues people face in the workplace and it must be dealt with. The U.S. have laws and regulations on discrimination but it still often occurs. Workplace discrimination appears in hiring, training, promotion, firing, and other institutional or interpersonal treatment. Discrimination sometimes causes an employee to leave or quit the workplace, resign from a position, or in more severe cases, to commit suicide or act violently against the discriminators. Discrimination is one of the largest issues many people face in the workplace.

Age discrimination has long been present in society due to the rapid development happening around us. According to Farney, Aday & Breault (2006), this era of ageism is defined as "discrimination against any age group", but it often is pointed to age discrimination among adults which is slowly causing a negative effect for them in the workplace. In the workplace, adults with more experience and longer history behind them are targets of this ageism belief that companies and employers tend to have (Farney, Aday, & Breault, 2006). They are shunned and even fired in favor of accepting new and fresh faces for the company they have worked for. Unknown to most companies and employers, this notion of favoring the young and banishing the old can

Discrimination is a very hard barrier to break. To discriminate means to "distinguish between one another; to make a difference in treatment or favor on the basis other then individual merit." Everyone at some point in their life experiences some form of discrimination that might be on the basis of their race, religion, age, or sex. Discrimination can be examined from many different angles. Because of this, I have decided to discuss one type of discrimination, which is employment discrimination. Throughout this paper I will attempt to answer several questions. Such questions are what is employment discrimination and whom does it effect? What could one do if find that they are a victim of discrimination?

Ageism also known as age discrimination has an enormous part in our society today. Many people have experienced discrimination against their age daily, even in schools and workplaces. Why is this important? Ageism can relate to everyone in the society; managers, employees, teachers, police officers, principles, etc. For example in a workplace, there are questions you are not allowed to ask during an interview, to your employees and coworkers, etc. Managers can get in trouble for saying stuff like “you can’t do this because your too young”, forcing someone to retire due to their age, not interviewing someone due to their age, As an employer, you cannot be denied a job, training or promotion, or forced to retire, because of your age, etc.

What is ageism; is it discrimination? Isn’t discrimination illegal? Many businesses are biased against older workers and openly discriminate. Some biases and stereotypes are based on a belief that older workers are less productive, technologically deficient, and set in their ways. No credence is afforded to the aging applicant for his knowledge and experience, devaluing his work-related contributions. Ageism biases and stereotypes lead hiring managers to promptly sideline or effectively trash the resume of the older job seeker. The dismissal of the resume means an opportunity lost for both the applicant and the company. Many unemployed applicants, age fifty and older with years of experience and knowledge, have difficulty procuring employment

In conclusion, ageism in today’s times is a real form of discrimination and needs to be fixed. An individual’s skills and capabilities should be based on a personal level, not their age. The elderly and the young need just as much job opportunities as the middle-aged individuals living in the

Age discrimination in employment is a complex issue which impacts many areas of Government policy and has many implications for individuals themselves. Age discrimination can occur across all spectrums of employment and can affect both young and old. Age discrimination can affect a person’s chances of getting a job, and potentially their chances of promotion or development within the workplace. Age can also be a factor when employers are deciding who should be selected during a workforce downsize or redundancy of work due to a mergers and acquisitions.

The Age Discrimination Employment Act (ADEA) was passed over 40 years ago (in 1967) prohibiting the denial of employment, forced retirement, hours of employment, compensation, or termination of individuals due to the person's age, and it was meant to encourage the employment of older individuals based on their abilities and invaluable experience. However, age discrimination and ageism still permeate American society and the workplace.”(Tate)

Age discrimination has some special aspects that make it different from other types of employment discrimination. My research will discuss this more in detail. Included will be several court decisions of great importance, the history of the Age Discrimination Statute, and other important data in regards to Age discrimination. Also there is information included on how to file a complaint with the