The Prohibition of Workplace Sexual Harassment - Term Paper Example

? HUMAN RESOURCE LAW- CONSULTING PROJECT Presented by (Your school) Introduction Human assets are the most expensive asset in any given organization. These valuable assets should be treated and handled with lots care as any dissatisfaction might lead to the employees leaving the organization. Mishandling may also result to legal suits, which damage the image of the organization and are also costly. Organizations in the modern day world are having it rough trying to conform to different laws and regulations in the country of their operations. Employers are therefore, at risk of law suits from employees and other state organs. Due to these threats, organizations need to invent heavily on its human resource department. More emphasis should be put on employee related issues to protect an organization from law suits, which might even lead to collapse of a business. Dataset technology is a company which has suffered heavily due to legal suits from its employees. Dataset technologies is an organization with its roots in the US and have opened branches in other countries in the world. The company was started in 1997 as a small business unit dealing with information technology equipment. The company started with selling of computers and other computer accessories. It has now grown and, it now develops computer programs for governments and other companies. It also offers consultancy in all information technologies related problems. (Jeffers 2005) Its headquarters are based at Dallas Texas in the US. The company is not so popular in the US perhaps as a result of the fact that most of its businesses are done outside the US and specifically in Africa. The company boasts of more than 1500 employees from different origins and backgrounds. Its workforce is probably one of the most diversified in the corporate world. This has been enabled by the organization’s policy on employment where it boasts as an equal opportunity employer. Problem statement The company has suffered several losses from legal suits by its employees resulting from discrimination issues. This has given the company’s top leadership headaches for several days as the company’s reputation is on the verge of deterioration. The company also risks cancellation of substantial contracts with several governments and companies due to the law suits which could lead to massive financial loss for the company. The increase of terrorism cases in the world has led to discrimination of Arab-Americans, working with companies who have consequently engaged the company in a bruising legal tussle leading to loss of finances. The discrimination has also led to the company losing some of its highly qualified staffs who are of Arab- American affiliation, as well as Arab employees. Employees who are of the Muslim faith have as well reported cases of discriminations in the recent past. This has been escalated due to terrorist attacks in the recent past. Reports of harassment, intimidation and violence based on ones faith, national origin and race have also been reported. These discriminations escalated after 9/11 attacks. Employees from the Muslim faith have been demotivated due to this and are living in fear hence cannot produce as expected of them. There have been more than 15 cases reported in Dataset technologies from July last year, which is a worrying case for the company. There are cases where an employee of Muslim faith has been regarded as a terrorist. So what does workplace discrimination and harassment entail? (Jeffers 2005). Workplace discrimination and harassment Unlawful discrimination, according to the federal and state laws, arises when someone is treated less favorably than other employees in the organization due to his/her color, religion, age, nationality, disability, marital status, sex and other attributes as described in the anti-discrimination legislation. Harassment at the workplace happens when an employee is made to feel frightened, hurt or humiliated due to their race, color, religion, nationality, sex, disability, marital status and other attributes described in the anti-discrimination laws. It happens when an employee is working in an intimidating working environment. Harassment can occur when someone is telling insulting funny stories to employees of a specific race. Making of inflammatory comments about a person’s race or religion is also harassment. This has happened severally to Dataset employees with Arab affiliation or employees of the Muslim faith. Many are times when these employees are referred to as terrorists. Some employees have even being referred to as ‘Osama’ which has seriously affected their moral (Devah 2009). Harassment can be either serious or less serious, whether serious or less serious they all constitute to harassment as a continuation of a behavior destabilizes the conditions of work at the organization. This affects the motivation of the targeted employees leading to a decrease in the overall performance of the organization. It should be noted that the absence of complaints in harassment and discrimination in an organization is not an indication that it does not happen. Employees who have previously suffered harassment do not always complain. Employees in most cases feel too much intimidated or embarrassed to speak out while others may lack the confidence to speak out. This is not the case in Dataset as employees are empowered and have the courage to speak out once harassed or discriminated. Many people confuse harassment or discrimination with comments and other advises which might a genuine. During performance appraisals, a supervisor might give a feedback that might prompt the employee to allude that he/she is being discriminated. It is therefore, the role of a manager to be able to conduct this process with a lot of sensitivity without evading their responsibilities of providing critical feedback (Waddington 1996). Harassment must be objectively offensive and, the burden of prove lies with the offended party. Casual comments, simple teasing and other incidents which are not very extremely do not amount to harassment or discrimination. Anti-discrimination law states that the conduct or the act must be seriously offensive, and the acts affect the employee’s conditions of work. A harassed employee should report the incidence immediately to his/her supervisor. Discrimination and harassment laws There are several laws and acts which advocate against harassment and discrimination in the US. Some of the most conspicuous ones are as follows. Title seven of the civil rights act of 1964. The act prohibits any company from any activity that discriminates potential and current employees against color, sex, religion, nationality (including employees of Native Americans) and other attributes that might amount to harassment and discrimination. Discrimination is forbidden in all terms, conditions and rights of employment according to the act. The age discrimination in employment act forbids any employer from discrimination targeted to employees of at least 40 of age. This is strengthened by the older workers benefits protection act. The American with disabilities act emphasizes on equal treatment of people with disabilities in the American soil. People with disabilities should be treated equal as those with no challenges physically. People with disabilities should not be discriminated in terms of hiring, interviews, promotions and other aspects of the job. The act also forbids employers from discriminating a person because that person is closely related or associates with a disabled person. The equal pay act requires that all employees should be paid equally for the same job regardless of their sexual orientation. Men and women performing the same tasks in the organization should be paid equally. All employees doing the same work working under similar conditions, effort and responsibilities irrespective of the job title should be paid equally. The immigration reform and control act of 1986 cautions employers against discrimination based on their citizenship or their country of origin. The terms, conditions and rights of an employee from a different country should be the same as those of the resident employees. The act also stipulates severe penalties for any organization that hires an employee without the required documents required in order for one work in the United States. The civil rights act section 1981, asserts that the African-Americans are nationals of the United States and should enjoy all the rights and privileges enjoyed by the whites. It is therefore the duty of every employer to ensure that all employees enjoy similar rights and privileges in order to avoid legal suits.  The genetics information nondiscrimination act disallows any employer or organization from using any genetic information from any worker to make any employment resolution in the workplace. All organizations are supposed to keep any genetic information in their possession private and confidential. At no time, an organization is supposed to use any genetic information in crafting its policies or rules (Dana 2005). The above laws apply to all organizations with at least fifteen employees. Federal government agencies and corporations as well as state government, are also supposed to comply with the above laws. Private and public employment agencies must also abide by the rule of law. Since dataset has more than fifteen employees, it has no other choice rather than complying with the set rules and regulations. The company should know that failure to comply with the law might lead to cancellation of its operating license. Handling a discrimination or harassment case The organization should encourage any employee who has been a victim of harassment or discrimination to first inform the offending person whether orally or in writing that his/her act is unpleasing and is offensive and, the person needs to stop it immediately. (Devah 2009) If any communication between the victim and the offender is impossible or the victim employee does not wish to communicate directly to the offending employee, the employee should report the case to his/her line supervisor soonest possible. The employee can also report the matter to any other conscientious officer or department within the organization. The employee can as well report the case to the offending employee supervisor. The supervisor will then determine the case and consider whether there is a genuine case of discrimination or harassment. The supervisor then advises the employee on the course of action to take. The supervisor may decide to use the mediation procedure to solve the case. This involves the use of casual methods to solve office problems. The role of the supervisor is to facilitate communication between the victim and the offender. The supervisor should try to solve the matter amicably, and he should be impartial in the whole process. He should not take sides at all in order not to jeopardize the whole process. If the parties to the dispute fail to solve the matter, the employee should other means outside the organization. The employee can use the EEOC (Equal employment opportunity commission). This will involve the victim employee filing a complaint with a state EEO counselor after not more than 45 days after the occurrence of the offence. It should be noted that it is not mandatory for the employee to report the matter to the supervisor before advancing the case to the EEOs office, though it is advisable (Devah 2009). The employees should be advised and encouraged to exhaust the internal procedures in dealing with the matter before proceeding to the external sources like the EEOC. This is only possible if the employee has faith in his/her supervisor. The supervisor should also be perceived to have skills which can help in solving the problem. Dataset needs to understand that EEOC legal suits are extremely costly, and the organization needs to empower its internal mechanisms in dealing with discrimination and harassment issues. EEOC cases are likely to damage the company’s image, and the company is also likely to suffer financial losses due to attorney’s fees. There are also investigations which are conducted by EEOC in the company which will interfere with the normal operations of the company. (Dana 2005) Prevention of employment discrimination and harassment in dataset The following measures should be put in place to avert and deal with workplace discrimination and harassment rampant in Dataset Technologies. Dataset should have a firm and strict policy against discrimination of whatever nature in the work place. The policy should be able all forms of discrimination and harassment cases that might arise in the company. The policy should empower and encourage all employees to report any case of discrimination and harassment of whatever nature to the management (supervisor). The policy should have an elaborate process of reporting discrimination cases. The policy ought to be communicated to all workforces to ensure that they understand its contents. The policy should have a clear outline of the steps to be followed in handling an employee complaint. The policy should also spell out the punitive measures to be taken against an offender. The policy should also be able to address any retaliation that may occur after reporting a case (Dana 2005). Once the company has a sound anti-discrimination policy, top managers should then be trained in order to be able to implement the policy. The managers should be trained on prevention of discrimination. The key issue should be on how a manager should create a favorable working environment and culture where all manner of discrimination and harassment do not happen. The manager should be trained on how to identify an employee suffering from harassment and discrimination and know how to deal the issue. The manager should also be trained on how to identify work situation that lead to discrimination and harassment in the company. Effective training should teach all aspects of discrimination and harassment and come up with behaviors that are capable to create friendly non-discriminatory working conditions. All employees must undergo a mandatory training which should be similar to that of the managers in order for them to understand the anti-discriminatory and harassment policy. The employees should be made aware and understand the complaint procedure. The training can be either manually or online. After the training, the employees should sign a declaration that they act according to the policy. The management should create a culture free of employment discrimination and harassment. This can be achieved through coming up with core values that create favorable working conditions. Discrimination and harassment should be included in the employee review, assessment and evaluation process. (Dana 2005). Handling of discrimination and harassment cases is highly crucial. The complaints should be dealt with in the most professional and confidential way. The complaint should be handled according to the provisions of the policy and in a time. The company should document all aspects arising from discrimination and harassment. This should include the training, complaint investigations and the efforts of the company in fighting the vice. This is helpful as it can be used in case of a legal suit. Draft Anti-discrimination and Harassment Policy Dataset Technologies is committed to providing a friendly and conducive working environment to all its employees free from discrimination and harassment. The company prohibits any discrimination committed by a manager, fellow employees or any other person within the organization. Workplace discrimination/harassment based on someone’s religion, sex, age, nationality, race, color, disability and any other basis against the law will not be tolerated in the company. Any kind of behavior or action with the intention to intimidate or harass an employee, or a behavior which is unwanted to the recipient will not be tolerated in the company. The company disallows any form of conduct that is likely to intimidate or harass any employee in the workplace or in any other event that the organization is involved in (Waddington 1996). Role of managers and staff The management should always create a working environment that is friendly and free from discrimination and harassment. All managers and supervisors are accountable for the behaviors of their employees. All dataset employees must conform to this policy, and it is their personal responsibility to ensure unwanted behaviors and conduct do not happen (Waddington 1996). Dealing with complaints All discrimination and harassment issues will be thoroughly investigated and required disciplinary measures will be taken. If someone is a victim of discrimination and harassment, one should report the case to your line supervisor and to the human resource manager. All complaints reported are treated with privacy and confidentiality. Before reporting the case, the victim can first inform the offender that his conduct is unwelcome and should stop. You are not required to report the issue to a person responsible to it i.e. if the offender is your line manager, report the case to HR immediately. The HR department is supposed to investigate the issue, and member of staff is required to entirely co-operate in the investigations. Upon the conclusion of the investigations, the company will take a corrective action including termination of employment. Any retaliation against an employee who reports a discrimination/harassment case or anyone who helps in the investigation is highly prohibited. References Dana, S., 2005. The Complete Guide to Human Resources and the Law (Complete Guide to Human Resources & the Law) New York: Aspen Publishers. Devah, P., 2009. Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration. Chicoga: University of Chicago Press. Jeffers, R., 2005. The Prohibition of Workplace Sexual Harassment in English Law. International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, SAGE Publications. Waddington, L & Bell, M., 1996. 'The 1996 Intergovernmental Conference and the Proposals of a Non-Discrimination Treaty Article' 25 Industrial Law Journal No 4. McGraw Hill. Read More