Critical Analysis of Inequalities Issues at Work - Essay Example

Inequalities Issues at work – Critical Analysis of the main causes XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Submitted by: XXXX Student Number: XXXX Number of Words: 1511 Identify the different inequalities issues in the workplace and critically analysis on the cause of the problem. Introduction: It is to be noted that almost every society of the world has been class based in some way, shape or form. The existence of inequalities issues is quite common at work places. This paper aims at understanding the different types of inequalities faced by individuals and the main reasons for the differentiation. To understand the reasons for inequalities better it is essential to understand the different types of stratification of the society. It has been noted that the society has been stratified into three main categories namely Social class Stratification, Gender stratification and Ethnic group stratification. The inequalities in society normally fall under the above mentioned heads (Andrews, 2007, Livesey, 2006). Discrimination of employees or inequalities of employees means treating an employee different from others. This is a very serious offence and is illegal for companies to treat employees differently. A company can be faced with a lot of legal issues and employees have the rights to even sue the company (Epstein, 1995). The next section focuses on the different basis of inequalities among employees at work places. Explanations of the causes for these issues are also discussed. Types of Discrimination: Discrimination can be classified into four main heads. These are the possible differentiation employees can face at work: Direct Discrimination: This type of discrimination refers to when employees discriminate among employees because of their sex, martial status or because of gender reassignment. This type of discrimination does not have a strong basis and employers tend to discriminate for reasons that are unlawful and invalid (Direct Gov, 2008). Indirect Discrimination: This type of discrimination is when employers put down certain invalid reasons to build certain working practices or rules within an organization. Rules such as fixing a minimum height which might discriminate against most women or even cases where employers refuse to employ part time workers for no valid reason (Direct Gov, 2008). Harassment: This is a very common sight in a lot of offices. This however is now being taken very seriously and laws relating to this have been tightened over the past few years. In this kind of discrimination the employees face offensive behaviour from employers or others within the organization. There can be passing of sexual remarks or gestures, or allowing of sexually explicit material to be displayed or distributed within the organization. Some employees also face the issue of being offensively nick named because of gender (Direct Gov, 2008). Victimization: This form of discrimination is seen in many offices when an employee has had the courage to speak up against discrimination or even when employees give bad feedback to managers during performance appraisals. In this case employees generally face disputes where they are not allowed to take up training courses, or face unfair disciplinary actions or even exclusion from official social events (Direct Gov, 2008). Basis of Discrimination: There are several issues of discrimination among the employees at work places. Employees are faced with different issues varying from age, sex, disability, national origin, race, religion (Flanagan, 2002). This section will focus on each of the discriminations in detail and will also include the possible reasons for the issues. Following are the main heads of discrimination employees’ face at work places: Direct & Subtle Discrimination: This type of discrimination is when employers discriminate among employees based on the attributes possessed by the employee. These could involve discrimination because of age, gender, pregnancy, marital status, gender reassignment, body shape /size. In this type of discrimination employers generally differentiate among employees due to the above mentioned factors. There have been several cases where employers do not offer jobs to women even though women are equally qualified and capable as their male counterparts. Employers could use reasons such as a women I likely to take pregnancy leave while men do not have to take such leaves and thus a job can be given to a man even though the women is equally or better qualified and competent (Gregory, 2003). Subtle (indirect) discrimination on the other hand is when employers tend to discriminate among employees by setting conditions or requirements which a smaller set of people might be able to comply with without having a valid or reasonable justification. There has been a very famous U.S. case (Griggs vs. Duke Power company [2]), where an aptitude test was held and it was found that a higher number of African- Americans were disqualifies when compared to white applicants. This forms an indirect discrimination where employers tend to believe that African – Americans would not be suitable for jobs and white would be the only suitable employees (Find Law, 2008). Sex Discrimination: This discrimination is made when employers differentiate among employees because of sex, gender, or if an employee is undergoing a sex reassignment. This is unlawful and law covers a variety of fields like recruitment, terms and conditions, benefits, pay, promotions, training, dismissal etc. The employees have a chance to raise an issue if they face this sort of discrimination at work and there are a number of laws ruling for discrimination of this type. There have been several acts that have been introduced by the government to avoid these types of unlawful activities. Different countries have different ruling for this issue like Sex Discrimination Act 1975 in UK, deals with any discriminations against men or women, discriminations on the ground of marital status illegal at work (Knight, 2004). Sexual Orientation Discrimination: Sexual orientation of a person can also be the cause for discrimination at work. It is unlawful for employers to discriminate among employees due to sexual preferences (gay, lesbian, heterosexual, or bisexual). Employees can face bullying or harassment due to this reason. This however is illegal and there are several laws pertaining to discrimination against sexual orientation. The governments of many countries have taken these situations into consideration and made several laws to ensure that employees that fall into this category are not deprived of their rights. There have been several rulings for civil partnerships (GAO, 2002). Disability Discrimination: This is one of the discriminations which are treated very seriously by almost every government. It is possible that people who are suitable for a particular job are refused the position since the prospective employee uses a wheel chair. This form of discrimination falls under Direct Discrimination, and can never be justified. Another example of disability discrimination is when employees are dismissed from their job due to an accident where the employee has suffered a loss of a limb and has had a long term absence. This however can be justified in a few cases. There are possibilities of employees being victimized under the disability discrimination as well. For instance employees can be refused promotions. It is possible that the employee does deserve the promotion, and a colleague backs up the disabled employee and the employers make the colleague redundant. This is a clear case of victimization (Business Link, 2008). Racial Discrimination: This for of discrimination is when an employee faces discrimination due to national origin, race, ethnic origin, colour, nationality or even citizenship. There can be direct discrimination of employees where employers decide to open jobs only for a particular race of people. Also indirect discrimination would be introduction of rules or dress codes which can be a discriminating factor against some ethical groups. Also the occurrence of racist jokes at work, and less favourable treatment to employees who are a part of a racial discrimination complaint fall under harassment and victimisation respectively (Direct Gov – Racial Discrimination, 2008). Religion or belief discrimination: Employees who are discriminated due to religious beliefs or certain beliefs fall into this category of discrimination. There can be a few exceptions to this for cases where the job requires having a certain religious belief. For example a scripture teacher at a Catholic school requires to be baptized Catholic. Similarly, it would be unlawful for a school to discriminate an English teacher because of the religious beliefs. There are a number of examples of religious discrimination however there is no list that states the discrimination terms. This is given a lot of importance all through the world and all major religions of the world as well as less widely practised religions are to be respected by law (Direct Gov- Religious Beliefs, 2008). Age Discrimination: There have been several cases where less deserving employees are promoted to higher positions solely based on their age. This however is now very serious offense and there have been several laws that have been introduced to help employees who deserve to get the right recognition and promotion at work. Also discrimination of older employees where age does not play an important factor for the job description falls into this category (Gregory, 2001). Conclusion: From the above mentioned factors that effect the various discriminations at a work place, it is clear that employees relations is a very serious matter and the governments of different countries have understood the importance of employee relations within an organisation and have made rules to ensure that every employee is treated in a respectable and uniform manner. Employee relations play a very important role in every organisation and hence discrimination of any kind is not well accepted and is taken very seriously by law (Gregory, 1999). 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Falanaga, W.J, Age, sex and disability discrimination in employee benefit plans’, Tax management, USA Find Law, 2008, Accessed on 26 September 2008, Retrieved from http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/get.se.pl?court=US&vol=401&invol=424 GAO, 2002, ‘Sexual Orientation- Based Employment Discrimination’, Accessed on 29 September 2008, Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02878r.pdf Gregory, R.J., 1999, ‘Your workplace rights and how to make the most of them’, New York , NY, Amacom Gregory, R.F, 2001, ‘Age discrimination in American Workplace: Old at a young Age’, Piscataway, NJ, Rutgers University Press Gregory, R., 2003, ‘Women and Workplace discrimination: Overcoming barriers to gender equality’, Rutger University Press, NJ Knight, M.B., 2004, ‘Corporate America – They had a plot but God had a plan’, 26 August 2004, Bloomington, Indiana Livesey, C., 2006, ‘Social Inequality: Theories’, assessed on 29 September 2008, Retrieved from www.sociology.org.uk Read More