Flaws of the Employment System in the United States - Research Paper Example

Employment discrimination Introduction United States of America is still replete with racial discriminations long after human rights legislation and other forms of campaigns rid all areas where racial discrimination occurs. Minority groups and races are still facing some form of discrimination in hiring, firing, pay, layoff, benefits, job assignments, and promotion for those who have already been employed. The race has been a significant issue socially over decades as people from different locations around the world use racial differences as the basis for discrimination. It can be traced back to colonial days when the Europeans colonized African and the Americans. The white settlers adopted superiority complex hence crediting them with civilizing them. The false notion came to be known as the white man’s burden. It was used to justify Europeans taking land away and enslaving the natives. This became a system of exploitation and discrimination as naturally-occurring differences became apparent. It became a system of denying people access to rights, representation or access to resources as it was institutionalized to affect virtually every aspect of life even the judicial system. Though progress has been made in the eradication of racial discrimination in employment, there is still some ground to be covered in eradicating the rampant prejudice. The situation is worsened by the statistics that are still a characteristic of modern day America which show that black people who have been arrested, charged or served a jail term can hardly get employment. The statistics show that one in every three black men has to be incarcerated in their lifetime, one in six Latino and one in seventeen Caucasian men. Disciplinary actions still are harsher for the black comparatively. The immigrants’ rights are not guaranteed as natives while per capita employment levels comparatively show that blacks are four-times less employable than the whites (“American Law Reports:Annotations and Cases” 115). Body Most of the big companies as is presently constituted in its ranks show that the majority of top management is white-dominated. Even if, there is an equal opportunity in hiring upward mobility is still a problem as most of the blacks remain in the same position for long a time. On the contrary, the white counterparts are being promoted to take positions of responsibility. They are segregated into the lowest level positions and still earn less than the white counterparts even if they are in the same job cadre. The statistics paint a grim picture especially to African-American male, whose employment opportunities is said to be declining in the 1990s as compared to 1980s. As stated earlier, due to these prejudices the blacks sometimes do not believe in themselves, therefore, not enthusiastic as whites in taking up such competitive positions. The owners of such companies equally do not provide a level playing field for all employees for growth. The social interaction between races results in prejudices that develop in the minds of individuals from a young age to adulthood. The white Americans have had negative perceptions and stereotypic biases for black male workers which fuels and precipitates employment discrimination. The biases overshadow opportunities for them to be hired and move upwards in the labor market free from prejudice and any form of hostility. Out of the recognition of the problem in discrimination, United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was formed. The commission is tasked to enforce federal laws which have been legislated to curb any form of discrimination against an applicant or an existing employee owing to the color of the skin, race, gender, religion, age, genetic information or disability. It extends to cover any person who has complained about discrimination either to oneself or to another, filed a discrimination charge or has in any way participated in employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit. The commission covers employers with more than fifteen employees, labor unions and employment agencies. The laws it enforces covers wages, fringe, hiring, harassment, training, promotions and fringe benefits. It investigates any form of discrimination in employers covered by the law. Where they find that an employer has violated a right of an employee, they settle the matter in its tribunal. If they are not able to settle they refer the matter to a court of law. The agency also, has the mandate to do public awareness to prevent such from occurring through education, outreach and technical assistance. It also provides federal agencies with guidelines in all matters pertaining equal employment opportunity programs (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). To illustrate this debate, two cases will be used to show that racial prejudices still exist in the society and that there is still inequity in employment rights, in the United States. In the case Lee v. K-Mart Corporation, No. 10-3892, DC MN, 2011, the complainant, Chinnecole Lee (black), worked in loss prevention for the respondent’s store. The company has a policy that prohibits any form of violence, any breakage results in termination. In loss prevention, the employee is not allowed to touch suspects unless in self defense. On the material day, she witnessed a white woman stuffing her coat with merchandise for which she confronted her. The woman emptied her pockets and said that she did not want the goods. A friend of the woman started screaming and using racial slur, attracting a slap from Lee. She was terminated for breaking non-violence rule because she was not threatened by the woman as she never mentioned during her interrogation by the supervisor. From her statement, of the events Lee never indicated that she was threatened by the lady and therefore, she was acting in self defense. The HR office used the statement as a basis to terminate her. She sued the store, but the court in favor of the store holding that the HR office of the store honestly believed that Lee broke the rule. He company told the court that Lee was not in any way threatened which formed the basis for upholding the termination, by the court. In this case, when the merits of the case are set aside, it proves social and racial discrimination that the black face today. The second case is that of Linda Ingram et al v Coca Cola, CA No. 1-98-CV-3679, RWS. In the case, current and former approximately 2200 Black-American salaried employees of Coca Cola brought before the court amended class action allegations against Coca Cola. Originally it was a one plaintiff case against Coca Cola. The amended case to include other plaintiffs was filed on 22nd April 1999. The company was accused of systematic discrimination in promotion, performance evaluation and compensation against salaried African-American employees. The plaintiffs claimed that such evaluations were manipulated to favor pre-selected candidates for a position. This denied them the opportunity to advance to the same level at the same rate as Caucasian employees. This caused racial disparities in employment, glass ceiling in promotion, salary increment and racial class boundaries that virtually segregated them. The court ordered an arbitration to come up with a settlement between the two sides. The court supported the claims of the plaintiffs that it was against Section 1981 of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act awarding them $192.5 million. The court ordered a review of the company’s system of employment practices and total overhaul. This included an agreement in principle to the company to foster and promote equal opportunity standards of excellence for all (Lipartito & David 253-255). An employer might, on the contrary, claim bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) in order to the operation of the business as it is not illegal to discriminate the employees. Such discrimination includes the age of an individual, national origin, sex and religion. In some jobs, like the police an individual who is over fifty years, is no longer employable in Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). On gender, the BFOQ requires that in some instances, one gender only cannot perform certain jobs without the presence of the other, like male wardens in a female ward in a prison. This piece of exception is allowed in such circumstances as it has the benefit of allowing the business to recruit as it wishes and maintain and retain the staff accordingly. In some cases where all companies can use this clause is when, for example, the company has to lay off some staff due to redundancy or reducing staff costs, the less experienced staff have to be go home, and the most experienced will have to remain (Gutman 198). Conclusion Despite the enactment of statutes against discrimination, the vice is still rampant in the United States. Race is still a major issue and will not be going away seemingly any time soon. The race factor has been an issue which has permeated and remained as a political party’s policy election issue recurring every cycle of United States general elections. Races in the United States align themselves to the party that better articulates their racial issues as seen by a majority of Hispanics and African-American supports towards Democratic Party and the Caucasian community supports the Republican. The Democratic ideology favors support of the poorer immigrants while Republican has the backing of the rich white Americans. In Democratic Party, the poorer should be supported through state funded social schemes while the Republicans are against it. President Obama pushed for the increment of minimum wage for the lowest earning employees in federal institutions; the law is yet to be operationalized. The bill is meant to increase the minimum wage which was his election agenda item as he sought office in 2008. All Americans should put their racial prejudices aside and embrace one another as brothers and sisters and move to end these decades if not centuries’ discrimination. Works Cited Gutman, Arthur, Koppes, Laura L. & Vodanovich, Stephen J. EEO Law and Personnel Practices, Third Edition. New York: Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, 2011. Print. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Race/Color Discrimination. n.d. Web. 3 April 2013. Publisher’s Editorial Staff. American Law Reports:Annotations and Cases. ALR federal 2d. Michigan: Thomson/West, 2006. Print. Read More