Discrimination in the work place

Discrimination in the work place

Understanding the work environment is crucial to under standing what occurs there. Sexual behaviour at work takes place in an organization having its own culture, its own norms and regulation, a hierarchy of job classifications, and diverse tasks carried out by a variety of people. While organizations differ along these dimensions – some have a rigid hierarchy while others have fewer for mal levels of command or are organized along a matrix – other aspects are relatively similar across companies. For example, people are more likely to think of an affair as taking place between a male manager and a female secretary than between a female manager and a male secretary because women tend to work as secretaries, men as managers. This is true in all kinds of organizations – hierarchical and non-hierarchical. (Tisdell, 2007)

The issue of homosexuality is a taboo and parents worldwide breathe a sigh of relief when they discover that their off springs have “natural” choices. The same cannot be said about the homosexual demographic who still have to deal with the stigmas attached to their “unnatural” choices. A homosexual human being is always greeted with a slight sneer, ridicule and outright exclusion from the society. Even though after several years of struggle for existence in the society and for social acceptance the mindset, sadly, has not improved much. Especially in radical societies, this is a major concern for gay rights activists. (Brumbaugh, 2008) Even though certain sections of the general population have somehow managed to accept homosexuality as a whole, cases of discrimination at workplace is still common in almost all the countries. It would be important to study the various impediments to the process and argue as to how it would be possible to give abolition of discrimination at workplace both social and legal acceptance and validity. Therefore this essay would try to dissect the various prevalent notions and hope to prove that these notions are a creation of the society and therefore have no legal, moral, religious or political validity. (Felicia, 2008)

Certain sections of the political society have publicly shown great detestation for people of certain sexual orientation and this resulted in discrimination at workplace. Most of these political figures and parties are religious conservatives. Therefore, similar political issues can be addressed with the same rationale as applied to religious and moral policing of the issue. (Kurdek, 2007) To use this issue as an electoral or political issue would be trivial because there are greater issues to worry about. Such conservatism is borne out of a sense of superiority in the proponents’ who believe that the society should live within the boundaries it has set. Therefore, any deviant would not only be threatening the integrity of the society but also make a mockery of it. This is highly untrue. (Hornsby, 2006)

The issue of discrimination at workplace is subject to a lot of legal debate. The Declaration of Independence, The First Amendment, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 both pay a lot of importance on human dignity and a man’s free will. Therefore, the resentment to discrimination at workplace is therefore major infringement on the civil and human rights of the gay community. (Patterson, 2006) If a person is believed to be free, free to choose his own religion, property and political belief how he can be not granted the free will to choose his own sexuality. (Wolfson, 2004) A married gay couple would face the same trials and tribulations of any other married couple and would therefore require the same benefits that a married, “straight”, couple enjoys. The government and its legal authorities should therefore ensure that discrimination at workplace are not accepted and are permissible by law and endow the couples with the same benefits that any other married couple would be endowed with. (Eskridge, 2007) Healthcare benefits, property benefits should be the same for all and therefore there is no sense as to why a gay individual would have no legal right to his/her deceased partner’s property if it has not been expressed in his/her will. The time has come for a greater legal, political and religious acceptance of gay individuals by the society. (Chauncey, 2004)

Each individual worker has identical productive characteristics like being ambitious, competitive, and dominant but in fact, many organizations ignore individuals because of their orientations (Ehrenberg/Smith, 1994). Even though, law protects employee from discrimination but discrimination in restaurant still happen to each individual especially to people gay preference. (Horrell, 1990) However, it should be mentioned that on the 12th of November in 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in order to protect the interests of the men and women who are working in a company and to stop discriminating them based on their sex. The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 is primarily related to the education, training, harassment, provision of various goods and services, clearance of premises and employment. The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 makes it unlawful for any individual to discriminate another person in a place of work with respect to their job selection, promotion, demotion, practices at work, removal from office or having to face any kind of disadvantage, like sexual harassment, due to their marital status or sexual preference. (Baird, 2004)

According to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, a person cannot be treated unfavorably than a different member from the other sex. Its major advantage is that it is not just limited towards preventing the discrimination of people in their offices but also covers education, which is the most important thing in the world today, and other facilities. A number of different amendments have been made to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 amended few parts of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 so that it would be applicable to transgender people also. There are also the Sex Discrimination Act 1986, the Employment Act 1989, the Equality Act 2006 and other such pieces of legislation, like the rulings of the European Court of Justice. However, much is needed to be done in the context gay population to stop or at least reduce discrimination at workplace. (Currah, 2006)

Treating employees fairly is a key aspect, which comes under corporate social responsibility. It is true that looking after the welfare of the employees proves to be beneficial for the organization. This move is converted into profits. Treating the workforce with reverence and in all fairness is vital for a corporation for two primary reasons even if the secondary reasons are ignored. Firstly, it enhances the repute of the company about fairness and neutrality. This character is often keenly watched for by current employees and as well, as people from outside the organization. Thus, it plays a major role in attracting prospect employees and retaining key human resources. An equally significant second reason is that recognizing and upholding the rights of the employees keep the business away from being entangled in legal issues under the charges of biasness, prolonged legal action and settlements costing the organization a fortune. Each employee has a fundamental right to fair treatment by the employer in the place of work. These rights incorporate respecting their rights to privacy and make feedback related to their performances available which facilitates them to meet their job requisites in a satisfactory manner. (Felicia, 2008)

When members of the staff undergo the experience of not being administered reasonably they lose the reverence they have for the authority, demonstrate bitterness towards their associates and in some cases lose enthusiasm and do not put in their devoted efforts in their jobs. However, fairness does not always mean the same treatment. To explain this we might refer to an example in which a parent’s attitude differs toward a seven year old and a seventeen year old. Both need to be treated in different ways but in a fair manner. Similarly, employees also must understand that equal treatment might not always mean the same treatment. Difference in attitudes of the authority towards different employees may be justified until the extent they are treated in a reasonable fashion. (Goodyear-Smith, 2007) Thus, for example, when toppers of the performance charts are appropriately rewarded and others are not or when mothers with kids at school are allowed to leave the office premises earlier while singles having to work late hours, the authority cannot be accused of being biased. Again, in cases of international businesses, cultural, national legislative and other related issues have to be comprehended.  To ensure that these confusions do not creep in, the corporations should adopt a more flexible approach rather than being rigid in their adherence to a fixed set of rules. Often the policy of strictly being guided by a fixed set of regulations makes it difficult for the managers to exercise impartial and fair control. The establishment should communicate the policy of flexibility to its employees. It should be explained to the employees that they would be treated in all fairness but not completely in the exact same fashion and that, it is the management’s prerogative to bend the rules to an extent in necessary cases and treat them as individuals. Even the employees desire to be treated as grown up individuals, are capable of understanding exceptions, and are heartened to know that under essential circumstances they too would be accommodated. (Hornsby, 2006)

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a part of section 2000e and is positioned in United States Code volume 42 included within Pub. L. 88-352. This is an act that “prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.” (EEOC, 1997) This act is also instrumental in providing “for the recovery of compensatory and punitive damages in cases of intentional violations of Title VII”. (EEOC, 1997) As stated it can be mentioned that there are several types of discriminations that are protected under this act and this is not limited to the parameters of national origin, gender, religious beliefs, color and race but also is extremely active in providing civil rights to the disabled. However, it can be seen that in the context of discrimination against sexual orientation at workplace the law should be more active and direct.

Again, the Bill of Rights of Puerto Rico or the Article Two of the Constitution is also instrumental in preservation of human rights that automatically indicates the rights of gay individuals. Section One of the Article Two mentions, “all men are equal before the law” and “the dignity of the human being is inviolable”. Similarly, it establishes the boundary of human rights in clear note.  Section One of the Article Two further states, “No discrimination shall be made on account of race, color, sex, birth, social origin or condition, or political or religious ideas. Both the laws and the system of public education shall embody these principles of essential human equality.” (Wikipedia, 2006)

The Employment Equality Act of 1998 along with the Equal Status Act of 2000 has deemed discrimination against and / or harassment (sexually or not) of an individual to be illegitimate based on nine circumstances. Those nine grounds referred to in the enactment as ‘the discriminatory grounds’ are sex, marital status, position of family in society, sexual orientation, religious conviction, age, disability, racial origin and affiliation of the Traveler community. Euroquimica de Bufu y Planan, S.A, a Spanish research organization specializing in researching tools for coatings and painting systems for industry and construction services is dedicated to conscientious entrepreneurship, and provides nurtured employment and offers esteemed training openings to all employees along with creating an internal attachment with the members of staff to help realize business objectives. (Patterson, 2006)

The companies that fall under the anti discrimination law should completely stick to the law in order to prevent various sex discriminations, which mainly the gay individuals face in their offices. A piece of legislation simply gives an individual his or her right to level out discriminatory behaviors that have been shown towards them. But it does not tackle the whole problem. No matter how effective a policy might be it can never change people’s attitude about the roles played by men and women in our society. Until and unless these policies are rigorously enforced, discrimination cannot be completely removed from our society.

In order to monitor the effectiveness of the policies of an organization in the workplace, the organization should periodically review the payment and allocation of its employees in different sections. One of the most positive impact that the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 had on the hospitality industry is that it allowed the encouragement of special training programs for the different applicants for a year or more. This helps the applicants to manage the selection process for both recruitment and promotion, regardless of their gender. (Patterson, 2006)

The work force of the workplace has a very diverse nature and mainly because of this diversity, a number of companies have completely failed to properly implement successful opportunities of equality among them. The managers face huge and intense challenges regarding equality. Their situation became more complicated when there were certain changes in the laws regarding the growth in the amount of workers belonging to the ethnic minority groups, the disabled workers and also matters, although not yet present in the legislation, regarding workers who are lesbian or gay. This complex nature of the industry work force coupled with the failure of major companies to implement strategies focusing on equal opportunities, encouraged political leaders to find effective and fresh means to guarantee equal opportunities to its employees.

In conclusion, it should be mentioned that recently the concept of managing diversity has started to develop in the hospitality industry. It accepts that diversity does exist in the workforce of the industry. This diversity can either be visible or non-visible and includes certain factors like age, sex and background. Although management diversity helps in perpetuating discrimination, these expansive diversity strategies sometimes become vague to properly remedy and recognize various discrimination practices. It has also been found that in the industry, although many written statements have been issued, the companies follow only a few of them. Thus, much is there to be done in order to eradicate the menace if discrimination against individuals with certain sexual orientations at workplaces.

References:

Baird, Robert M. Stuart E. Rosenbaum; 2004; Same-sex Marriage: The Moral and Legal Debate; Edition: 2, revised; Prometheus Books

Brumbaugh, Stacey M. Laura A. Sanchez, Steven L. Nock, James D. Wright; 2008; Attitudes Toward Gay Marriage in States Undergoing Marriage Law Transformation; Journal of Marriage and Family; 70, 2, 345-359; National Council on Family Relations; Bowling Green State University; University of Virginia; University of Central Florida

Chauncey, George; 2004; Why Marriage?: The History Shaping Today’s Debate Over Gay Equality; Basic Books

Currah, Paisley Richard M. Juang, Shannon Minter; 2006; Transgender Rights; U of Minnesota Press

EEOC; January 15, 1997; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. eeoc.gov; Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/vii.html

Felicia, Diane M ; Michelle Sutherland; 2008; Beyond the dominant narrative: Intimacy and conflict in lesbian relationships; Conflict Resolution Quarterly; 18, 4, 363-376; Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company

Goodyear-Smith, Felicity A ; Tannis M. Laidlaw; 2007; Aggressive acts and assaults in intimate relationships: towards an understanding of the literature; Behavioral Sciences ; the Law; 17, 3, 285-304; Academic Forensic Psychiatry Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, PB 92 019, Auckland, New Zealand

Hornsby, Eunice Ellen; 2006; Using policy to drive organizational change; New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education; 2006; 112, 73-83; Ohio State University, Columbus

Patterson, Charlotte J; 2006; Family Relationships of Lesbians and Gay Men; Journal of Marriage and Family; 62, 4, 1052-1069; Department of Psychology, Gilmer Hall, P.O. Box 400400, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Tisdell, Elizabeth J; 2007; Popular culture and critical media literacy in adult education: Theory and practice; New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education; 2007, 11, 5-13; Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg

Wikipedia; 2006; ARTICLE II BILL OF RIGHTS; Wikipedia.com; Retrieved from http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Commonwealth_of_Puerto_Rico#ARTICLE_II_BILL_OF_RIGHTS

;