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Essay / Employment Discrimination in the United States
In an ideal world, we would all have equal rights, treatment, and opportunities, regardless of who we are, the color of our skin, or our gender. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world and our differences can have a positive or negative interference when it comes to discrimination. The characteristics we possess are unique and we should not be treated with prejudice because of them, especially in the workplace. Employment discrimination is a common occurrence in the workplace and often goes unnoticed, swept under the rug, or perhaps even unintentional. Whether workplace discrimination is intentional or not, it appears that it is present and persists across all professions in the United States, despite laws intended to protect and prevent plagiarism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay There are several forms of unfair treatment in the workplace that we can classify as discrimination. This includes discrimination based on sex, religion, race, origin, physical disability, mental disability, sexual orientation, age and gender identity. Such workplace discrimination by employers can impact employees' earning potential, dictate roles and responsibilities, affect raises and bonuses, cause unhealthy work environments, and harm the treatment of employees. It is important to recognize discrimination in the workplace in order to prevent it on a personal level and to be able to recognize that it is happening in our own workplaces. What exactly is employment discrimination? This can be defined as the different treatment of two employees of the same qualification, in a detrimental way, because it affects the economic results of employees of the same productivity. Employment discrimination can also be defined as less favorable treatment towards an individual or group of individuals in a work environment, usually based on defining attributes – age, gender, race, etc. When we find a denial of certain rights, negligent treatment, intentionally underestimating an employee's working capacity can be qualified as discrimination. Discrimination in the workplace is not limited to employer behavior, it is also seen among employees. Feminist economist Deborah Figart (1997) defined workplace discrimination as "a multidimensional interaction of economic, social, political, and cultural forces in the workplace and in the family, resulting in different outcomes in terms of pay, 'employment and status'. This example helps explain that the effects of workplace discrimination are not limited to the workplace, they also spill over into other areas of employees' lives. It has been claimed that group-level discrimination can cause feelings of fear and distrust within the discriminated group, which can often result in inhibited performance. Discrimination in the workplace has been shown to have many negative effects on an employee's overall health. Some of these negative effects manifest in blood pressure, heart disease, psychological distress, and self-reported health. There are two common ways to respond to discrimination: emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping. Under emotion-focused management, employees protect their self-esteem by attributing any hiring or promotion discrepancies todiscrimination instead of thinking about their own potential shortcomings. In problem-focused coping, employees attempt to change aspects of themselves that caused their discrimination in order to protect themselves against future discrimination. Some common examples are obese people losing weight or mentally ill people seeking therapy. Of course, this approach can only be implemented when the reason for discrimination is not immutable, such as race or age. We know that discrimination can lead to serious psychological consequences for the victim and these consequences can also include emotional distress, stress and anxiety. Employment discrimination often causes an employee to abandon their job by resigning from their position or, in extreme cases, commit suicide or act violently against the discriminators. In the United States, we too often hear news stories about a workplace shooting. In 2017, a disgruntled employee of Fiamma, an Orlando-based company, fatally shot five former co-workers before turning the gun on himself. Reports of the incident indicated that the shooter had "problems" with the five individuals and targeted them directly, without harming any of the other former colleagues present that day. Reports are unclear on exactly what form of discrimination the shooter suffered while employed, but several of his former colleagues have shared their options on the subject. When discrimination is suspected, we can address it in several ways. Measures to combat discrimination in the workplace can be both individual and collective. Individual steps that can be taken include remaining firm in the face of verbal attacks, remaining confident in your own abilities, and avoiding being alone with the abusive person. Collective action may involve organizing a meeting in a private location for the purpose of discussing the problem and working towards solutions, complaining to the relevant authorities and developing and implementing policies of change. Discrimination in the workplace is not always easy to identify, and not all unfair behavior in the workplace can be considered discrimination. Let's take a look at salaries and the gender income gap. It is important to note that the concentration of men and women working in specific professions or industries does not constitute evidence of discrimination. We see through empirical studies that incomes differ more due to differences in worker qualifications than to gender. However, it is in the part of the wage gap that cannot be explained by studies that we can explain discrimination. An obvious procedure used to identify the explained and unexplained parts of the gender wage gap is the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition procedure. Another type of statistical evidence of discrimination is obtained by focusing on homogeneous groups by studying the economic outcomes of groups with very similar qualifications. To delve deeper into the gender wage gap, we'll need to delve into a well-known study. University of Michigan Law School graduates were surveyed between 1987 and 1993, and again between 1994 and 2000, to measure any changes in the gender wage gap. The group was intentionally chosen because they had similar characteristics, with gender being the only significant difference. The gender income gap was very small aftergraduation. However, after 15 years, it was discovered that women earned 60 percent of what men earned, showing a significant gender pay gap. A similar study showed that minority employees earned less money than white employees, particularly white men. This study was conducted in 2006 and focused on Harvard University graduates. The researchers took into account GPA, SAT scores, college majors, time off work and current occupation. The results showed that 30 percent of the pay gap was unexplained. Therefore, although not all unexplained gaps are due to discrimination, study results certainly reveal gender discrimination, even among highly educated women. From experience, I have noticed a gender pay gap within the organization I work in. I feel lucky to be paid the same as male managers who hold similar positions in the organization I work in, but I didn't get a salary. equality without combat. I run the children's respite service for a non-profit organization that I have worked for for five years. My first three years of employment were as a part-time respite care provider and I occasionally helped out in the office with secretarial duties. It just so happened that I was in the right place, at the right time, with the right experience and knowledge of current clients and families, because when the manager at the time was fired, I was offered the position. I attributed my luck to my volunteer hours with the organization, my college degree, my experience, and my excellent people skills. Initially, I was happy with the salary offered and didn't question its fairness or lack thereof. However, given my new management position, I have been responsible for maintaining and keeping current and former employee files in order. During this task, it was discovered that the previous respite care manager had earned significantly more than I had when hired, even though he did not have a college degree and had no prior experience. This realization made me believe that I had been discriminated against because of my gender and in the form of a gender pay gap. I very carefully brought this knowledge (and evidence) to the attention of my CPO and it was resolved after a year and budget amendments. The gender pay gap is one form of employment discrimination, but there are many others, including racial discrimination. When it comes to this form of discrimination, audit studies (also known as matched pairs) are used to examine racial discrimination in hiring. The Urban Institute conducted a study using matched pairs to examine racial discrimination. They studied the employment outcomes of 19- to 25-year-old Hispanic, white and black men for entry-level positions. For this study, they compared pairs of black and white men, then pairs of Hispanic and non-Hispanic men as testers. The testers applied for the same jobs advertised for the new positions. All of their resumes were fabricated and all of the characteristics written were almost identical with the exception of their race/ethnicity. They also all completed interview training sessions. The idea of the study was to see if both people in the duo were offered the job or if both were rejected. The objective was to see whether or not racial discrimination was at play during the. 1911).