Chapter 7 The Ethics of Job Discrimination

7/21/2019 Chapter 7 The Ethics of Job Discrimination

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Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Business Ethics

Concepts & Cases

Manuel G. Velasquez


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Chapter Seven

The Ethics of Job

Discrimination


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Denition of Discrimination

The wrongful act of distinguishingillicitly among people not on thebasis of individual merit but on thebasis of pre!udice or some otherinvidious or morally reprehensibleattitude"


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Types of Discrimination

#ntentional discrimination $ conscious anddeliberate discrimination"

%nintentional discrimination $ discriminationthat is not consciously or deliberately soughtbut is brought about by stereotypes or as anunintended outcome"

#ndividual discrimination $ discrimination ofone or a few individuals acting on their own"

#nstitutional discrimination $ discriminationthat is the result of the actions of all or many ofthe people in an institution and of their routineprocesses and policies"


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hat is '(rmative 'ction)

'ny program designed to ensure thatminorities women or members of someother group are ade*uately representedwithin an organi+ation and its various levels

by ta,ing positive steps to increase theirnumber when underrepresented" hat counts as -ade*uate representation.

depends on the ob!ectives of the program/ some aim at having the same proportion of

women or minorities as e0ists in the pool fromwhich new members are drawn

others aim at achieving the diversity needed tomeet organi+ational ob!ectives


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Discrimination and the 1aw

Civil 2ights 'ct of 3456 made it illegal to base hiring ring or

compensation decisions on race color religionse0 or national origin

created the E*ual Employment 7pportunityCommission 8EE7C9 to administer the 'ct

E0ecutive 7rder 33:65 re*uired companies doing business with the

federal government to ta,e steps to redress racialimbalance in wor,force

E*ual Employment 7pportunity 'ct of 34;: gave EE7C increased power to combat -under

representation. and to re*uire a(rmative actionprograms


7/23Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Controversy over =s some insist discrimination is

only individual and intentional" #n the 344=s the view prevails it can also be

institutional and unintentional"



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Discrimination in the %nitedStates

Aap between average family incomes of whitesand minorities has not decreased"

Aaps between average incomes and medianearnings of men and women have decreased

but are still large" women earn less than lesseducated men

women earn less in every occupational group

Aaps between the average earnings of

minorities and of whites have hardly narrowed inorities earn less than less educated whites

?ercent of minorities in poverty is : to times thewhite percentage



Discrimination in the %nitedStates

?overty rate of families headed bywomen is twice that of maleheadedfamilies"

Salaries of -womens !obs. aresignicantly lower than -mens !obs".

Toppaying e0ecutive positions are lledby menF a -glass ceiling. stops women"

The earnings gaps are not e0plained byeducation career choices preferenceswor, history training or absenteeism"


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#ncreasing ?roblemsfor omen and inorities

omen and minorities ma,e up mostnew wor,ers but face signicantdisadvantages"

omen are steered into lowpaying!obs and face a -glass ceiling. andse0ual harassment"

inorities need s,ills and educationbut lac, them"


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'rguments 'gainstDiscrimination

%tilitarian Discrimination leads to ine(cient use of human

resources"

2ightsbased

Discrimination violates basic human rights byholding minorities and women as -inferior". Discrimination cannot be universali+ed"

Justicebased Discrimination results in un!ust distributions of

benets and burdens" Discrimination violates the formal principle of

e*uality by diGerentiating between people on thebasis of characteristics that are not relevant to !obperformance"


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Se0ual @arassment

%nwelcome se0ual advances re*uests forse0ual favors and other verbal or physicalcontact of a se0ual nature constitute se0ualharassment when/

839 submission to such conduct is made eithere0plicitly or implicitly a term or condition of anindividuals employment8:9 submission to or re!ection of such conduct byan individual is used as the basis for

employment decisions aGecting such individual89 such conduct has the purpose or eGect ofunreasonably interfering with an individualswor, performance or creating an intimidatinghostile or oGensive wor,ing environment"


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oral 7b!ections to Se0ual@arassment Auidelines

Auidelines prohibit -intimidating hostileor oGensive wor,ing environment". But it is sometimes hard to distinguish this

from male rudeness not intended to degradewomen"

Auidelines prohibit -verbal or physicalcontact of a se0ual nature. when it has

the -eGect of unreasonably interferingwith an individuals wor, performance". But this seems to re*uire use of purely

sub!ective !udgments"


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oral 7b!ections to Se0ual@arassment Auidelines

Auidelines prohibit -verbal conduct. thatcreates an -intimidating hostile oroGensive wor,ing environment". But this can conHict with the right to free

speech" Auidelines hold employer guilty of

employees se0ual harassment even ifemployer did not ,now nor could haveprevented it" But some respond that eradicating se0ual

harassment !usties forcing employer to beresponsible for preventing it and it is an-e0ternal cost. employers should internali+e"


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7ther Types ofDiscrimination

'ge which is protected by the 'geDiscrimination in Employment 'ct

Se0ual orientation which has few

protections against discrimination

Transse0ual status which has fewprotections

Disability which is protected by the'mericans with Disabilities 'ct

7besity which has no protections"


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1egal Status of '(rmative'ction

'(rmative action is legal when used tocorrect a racial or se0ual imbalance that isthe result of previous discrimination"

#t is also legal when used to correct anegregious persistent and manifest racialimbalance not caused by previousdiscrimination"

#t can be used in hiring"

Can be used to achieve educationaldiversity and broadcast diversity"


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1egal Status of '(rmative'ction

Cannot use inHe0ible *uotasImust benarrowly tailored to their ob!ectives"

Cannot be used in layoGs"

Cannot overrule seniority"

Cannot be used in government setaside programs e0cept as a last resortin an e0treme case involving previousracial bias by the government"


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Compensation 'rgument for'(rmative 'ction

Claims a(rmative action compensatesgroups for past discrimination"

Critici+ed as unfair because those who

benet were not harmed and those whopay did not in!ure"

Some argue in response to criticism thatdiscrimination has harmed all minoritiesand women and all whites and maleshave beneted from it"


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%tilitarian 'rgumentfor '(rmative 'ction

Claims a(rmative action reducesneed by beneting minorities andwomen in need and so increases

utility Critici+ed on grounds that its costs

outweigh its benets and that other

ways of reducing need will producegreater utility"


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E*ual Justice 'rgumentfor '(rmative 'ction

'(rmative action will secure e*ualopportunity by a fairer distribution of

!obs by neutrali+ing the eGects of

unconscious bias that aGects!udgments about minorities andwomen and by placing women and

minorities in less disadvantaged andmore competitive positions incompetitions with males and whites"


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E*ual Justice 'rgumentfor '(rmative 'ction

'(rmative action is a morally legitimatemeans for securing e*ual opportunity"

#t is not a form of -reverse discrimination.because it is not based on invidious !udgments ofmale inferiority nor aims at destroying e*ual

opportunity"

#t does not use a nonrelevant characteristic sincerace and se0 are relevant in this limited conte0t"

#t does not harm minorities and women and anyharm would be less than the harms inHicted bycurrent unconscious discrimination"


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Conclusions

aluing and managing a diverse wor,force is more than ethically andmorally correct"

#ts also a business necessity"

Companies that fail to do an e0cellent!ob of recruiting retaining developing

and promoting women and minoritiessimply will be unable to meet theirsta(ng needs"

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Chapter 7 The Ethics of Job Discrimination