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Chapter 19
Employment
Discrimination
and Affirmative
Action
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Learning Outcomes
1. Chronicle the U.S. civil rights movement and minority
progress for the past 50 years.
2. Outline the essentials of the federal discrimination laws.
3. Define disparate treatment and disparate impact, and
give examples of how each.
4. Elaborate on issues in employment discrimination
relating to race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion,
sexual orientation, and disability.
5. Identify the different types of affirmative action and
compare and contrast them to each other.
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Chapter Outline
• The Civil Rights Movement
• Federal Laws Prohibiting Discrimination
• Expanded Meanings of Employment Discrimination
• Issues in Employment Discrimination
• Affirmative Action in the Workplace
• Summary
• Key Terms
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Employment Discrimination
& Affirmative Action
Federal Protection •
People are protected from discrimination based
on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age,
or disability.
Several States & the District of Columbia –
•
People are protected from discrimination based
on sexual orientation.
These “Protected” groups •
are not protected from job loss; young minority
men bore a disproportionate burden of the
layoffs in the most recent recession.
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The Civil Rights Movement
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1955 - Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to
give up her bus seat to a white man, and was
arrested.
Protests and boycotts over unequal treatment
grew and continued, and were met with
violence against the protestors.
1964 - The Civil Rights Act became law.
The 1970s - The Women’s Movement
The 1980s -Gains for women and blacks
The 1990s - Some progress, but problems
remained
The 21st century - New challenges and old
problems
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Federal Laws Prohibiting Discrimination
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Prohibits discrimination in hiring and other
aspects of employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967: Protects workers 40 years old and
older from arbitrary age discrimination.
Equal Pay Act of 1963: Prohibits sex discrimination in payment of wages to
women and men who perform substantially equal work.
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 503: Prohibits job discrimination on the basis
of a handicap.
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990: Gives individuals with disabilities civil
rights protections similar to those given to individuals on the basis of race, sex,
national origin, and religion.
Civil Rights Act of 1991: Provided increased financial damages and jury trials in
cases of intentional discrimination.
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Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Prohibits discrimination in all aspects of
employment based on:
• Race
• Color
• Religion
• Sex
• National origin
• Pregnancy
• Retaliation
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Age Discrimination in Employment Act
• The ADEA protects workers 40 years old and
older from discrimination in:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hiring
Discharge
Pay
Promotions
Fringe benefits
Other aspects of employment
• Does not apply where age is a bona fide
occupational qualification (BFOQ)
•
When a younger age is necessary and related to
the position.
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Equal Pay Act of 1963
• Prohibits sex discrimination in payment of
wages to women and men who perform
substantially equal work in the same
establishment.
• Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.,
2007, heard by the Supreme Court.
•
•
Lily Ledbetter was paid less than males for equal
work, but did not discover it for several years;
the Supreme Court ruled she should have filed
suit within 180 days, the first payment date.
In 2009, The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act changed
the law, so that suit may be brought each time
there is discrimination.
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Rehabilitation Act of 1973, § 503
• Prohibits job discrimination on the basis of a
disability.
• Applies to employers who contract with the
federal government.
• Also requires these employers to engage in
affirmative action to employ the disabled.
• A related act, the Vietnam Era Veterans
Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, also
prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability,
and requires affirmative action.
• The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was the model for
the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990.
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Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
•
Prohibits discrimination based on physical or mental
disabilities in private places of employment and in
public accommodations; requires employers to make
reasonable accommodations for such employees.
An individual is disabled under the Act if the
person•
•
•
Has a physical or mental impairment that limits one
or more major life activities.
Has a record of such an impairment.
Or, is regarded as having such an impairment.
Reasonable accommodations may include-
• Making facilities accessible
• Job restructuring, work schedule modification,
• Acquiring or modifying equipment or devices;
providing training materials, readers, or interpreters
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The Civil Rights Act of 1991
• Provided increased financial damages and
jury trials in cases of intentional
discrimination based on race, religion, sex,
disability and national origin.
• Under the original Act, monetary awards
were limited to back pay, lost benefits and
attorneys fees and costs.
• The 1991 Act permitted both
compensatory and punitive damages.
• In addition, the Act shifted the burden of
proof back to the employer.
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The Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission • Is the major federal body created to
administer and enforce U.S. job bias laws.
• Investigates employment discrimination
complaints.
• Makes equal employment opportunity policy
• Enforces anti-discrimination laws through
conciliation or federal lawsuits against
employers
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Expanded Meanings
of Employment Discrimination
Disparate (unequal) treatment •
Intentionally using race, color, religion, sex, or national
origin as a basis for treating people differently.
Disparate (adverse) impact •
An employer’s practice results in fewer minorities being
included in the outcome of testing, hiring, or promotion
practices than would be expected by numerical
proportion.
Four-fifths rule •
If a member of a minority group does not have a success
rate at least 80 percent that of the majority group, the
practice may be considered to have an adverse impact.
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Two Kinds of Employment Discrimination
Disparate Treatment
Disparate Impact
Direct discrimination
Indirect discrimination
Unequal treatment
Unequal consequences or results
Decision rules with a
racial/sexual premise or cause
Decision rules with
racial/sexual consequences or results
Intentional discrimination
Unintentional discrimination
Prejudiced actions
Neutral, color-blind actions
Different standards for different groups
Same standards, but different
consequences for different groups
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Issues in
Employment Discrimination (1 of 3)
• Inequality persists despite diversity efforts.
• May not be caused by discrimination
• Discrimination is different depending on race
and ethnicity.
• Our increasingly diverse society makes some
people hard to categorize.
•
For example, there are many groups that make
up Hispanics, though they have different
ancestry.
• Color bias is not the same as racial bias,
though they overlap.
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Issues in
Employment Discrimination (2 of 3)
• Gender issues are different from those
involving race, color and national origin.
Major issues for women include:
•
•
•
•
Getting out of traditional “women’s” jobs,
and into professional and managerial
positions
Achieving pay commensurate with that of
men
Eliminating sexual harassment
Being able to take maternity leave without
losing their jobs.
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Issues in
Employment Discrimination (3 of 3)
• Other Forms of Employment Discrimination:
•
Religious discrimination •
•
Retaliation •
•
A more diverse population brings to the
workplace people with unfamiliar religions
One who complains of discrimination against
another and is retaliated against, may bring a
complaint.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Discrimination •
Corporations have been faster than governments
in instituting protections for lesbian, bay, bisexual
and transgender (LGBT) employees.
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Other Forms of
Employment Discrimination
Age Discrimination
Religious Discrimination
Color Bias
Sexual Orientation and
Transgender Discrimination
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Affirmative Action
in the Workplace
•
Affirmative action is taking positive steps to
hire and promote people from groups that
have been affected by a legacy of
discrimination.
•
Presidential Executive Order 11246 required
federal contractors to employ affirmative
action.
•
Controversy has led to claims of “reverse
discrimination” by whites as victims of
discrimination when minorities were hired.
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The Future of Affirmative Action
•
Buying power of minority groups is
increasing rapidly.
•
Growing business interest in diversity
programs and affirmative action.
•
•
Bottom-line considerations
Diversity practices remain potentially
controversial.
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Key Terms
• Age Discrimination in
Employment Act (ADEA)
• Affirmative action
• Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Bona fide occupational
qualification (BFOQ)
• Civil Rights Act of 1991
• Color bias
• Comparable worth
• Compensatory justice
• Disparate impact
• Disparate treatment
• Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
(EEOC)
• Equal Pay Act of 1963
• Essential functions
• Fetal protection policies
• Four-fifths rule
• Hostile work
environment
• Major life activities
• Preferential treatment
• Pregnancy Discrimination
Act of 1978
• Protected groups
• Quid pro quo
• Reasonable
accommodation
• Reverse discrimination
• Sexual harassment
• Strict scrutiny
• Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964
• Undue hardship
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Key Terms
• Age Discrimination in
Employment Act (ADEA)
• Affirmative action
• Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Bona fide occupational
qualification (BFOQ)
• Civil Rights Act of 1991
• Color bias
• Comparable worth
• Compensatory justice
• Disparate impact
• Disparate treatment
• Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
(EEOC)
• Equal Pay Act of 1963
• Essential functions
• Fetal protection policies
• Four-fifths rule
• Hostile work
environment
• Major life activities
• Preferential treatment
• Pregnancy Discrimination
Act of 1978
• Protected groups
• Quid pro quo
• Reasonable
accommodation
• Reverse discrimination
• Sexual harassment
• Strict scrutiny
• Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964
• Undue hardship
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