Ethics of
Job
discrimination
• Discrimination – the wrongful act of
distinguishing illicitly among people not on the
basis of individual merit, but on the basis of
prejudice or some other invidious or morally
reprehensible attitude.
• E.g. – employment discrimination in USreligious groups – Jews & Catholics
ethnic groups – Italians, Poles & Irish
racial groups – Blacks & Asians
Forms of discrimination
• Isolated behavior (intentional)- male interviewer
preferring women candidates
• Routine behavior
• Isolated behavior (unintentional)- individual
unthinkingly adopts traditional practices &
stereotypes
• Systematic routine of org to discriminate against
women or minorities
• Affirmative action program –
A program designed to ensure the proportion of
minorities within an org matches their
proportion in the available workforce
Discrimination & Law
• Civil rights Act of 1964 – made it illegal to make it
hiring, firing, or compensation decisions on the basis of
race, color, religion, sex, or national origin
• Executive order 11246 – required co’s doing business
with the federal govt. to to take steps to redress racial
imbalance in workforce
• Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 – gave
EEOC increased power to combat “underutilization”
& to require affirmative action programs
Extent of discrimination
• Average benefits
• Placing discriminated groups at lowest levels of
institutions
• More advantageous positions to preferred ones
•
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
Discrimination in US –
The income gap b/w Whites & minorities has not
decreased
Large Y inequalities based on sex exist
Black unemployment is more than twice as high as
Whites
Minority poverty rate is 2-3 times of Whites
Poverty rate of families headed by women is 3 times
that of male headed ones
Most higher-paying jobs go to white males
•
Glass ceiling – an invisible, but impenetrable
barrier to further promotion sometimes
encountered by women or minorities
• Increasing problems for women & minorities
–
(i) Women & minorities make up most new
workers
(ii) Women are steered into low-paying jobs &
face a glass ceiling & sexual harassment
• Utilitarian arguments which claims that
discrimination leads to an inefficient use of
human resources
• Rights arguments violates basic human rights
• Justice arguments which claims that
discrimination results in an unjust distribution
of society’s benefits & burdens
Utility
•
Discriminating job applicants on the basis of race,
sex, or other characteristics unrelated to job
performance is necessarily inefficient & contrary to
utilitarian principles
• Objections encountered:
(i) The jobs shud be assigned on the basis of job related
qualifications only so long as such assignments will
advance the public welfare
(ii) Society as a whole may benefit from some forms of
sexual discrimination
Rights
•
Discriminatory practices violate the principle
in two ways :
(i) Racial & sexual discrimination is based on
stereotypes that see minorities as “lazy” or
“shiftless” & women as “emotional” &
“weak”.
(ii) Placing members at lower positions, lower
salaries & lower job opportunities
Justice
• Principle of equal opportunity – social &
economic inequalities are to be arranged so that
they are attached to offices & positions open to
all under conditions of fair equality of
opportunity
Discriminating practices
• Recruitment practices – word of mouth referrals, only
White males, for MEN only
• Screening practices – disqualifying minority class who
are unfamiliar with the language, concepts & social
situations in the aptitude & intelligence tests
• Promotion practices
• Conditions of employment – less wages & salaries to
women & minorities, providing secretarial or clerical
positions only, less benefits
• Sexual harassment