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American Workplace Discrimination Continues To Be Prevalent In The Twenty-First Century

Although strides have been made, discrimination is still prevalent in the American workplace in 2016.  Discrimination is the unjust treatment of different categories of people. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s most recent statistics, race, sex, age, disability, and retaliation were the most common forms of discrimination reported.  To a lesser extent, religious, national origin, color, and equal pay were other forms of discrimination that were reported (Charge Statistics, 2014, p.1).  There should be no place for discrimination in the workplace these days.

In the United States, a number of laws have been enacted in order to prevent discrimination in the workplace and to protect employee’s rights.  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex.  Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 makes it illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities in the workplace.  The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 makes it illegal to discriminate based upon age for those people who are over 40 years old (Laws Enforced by EEOC, 2015, p.1).  Although there are laws in place to prevent discrimination and to protect employee’s rights, discrimination continues to exist in the workplace.  Lisa Finn (2015) from Demand Media states, “The reason discrimination is still alive in the workplace has much to do with the economy, financial pressure and lack of diversity training” (p. 1).  She elaborates that people are afraid of getting fired from their jobs if they report discrimination and also that companies do not provide diversity training and education to their employees relative to discrimination.  As a result, discrimination continues to exist in the American workplace.

Race and color discrimination occurs when someone is treated unfairly in the workplace because they are of a certain race or nationality or because of the color of their skin.  Employment laws prohibit race and color discrimination in all facets of employment such as hiring, firing, promotions, pay, and job assignments (Race/Color Discrimination, 2015, p.1). Unfortunately, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported 31,073 race discrimination charges and 2,756 color charges in their latest statistics which represents 38.1% of the total discrimination charges (Charge Statistics, 2014, p.1).  Some law firms point out that employers do not always adequately discourage and address race and color discrimination in the workplace and also do not have appropriate policies and procedures (Race Discrimination, 2015, p.1).  In addition, employees are not always properly trained relative to diversity in the workplace.  Employers need to be proactive relative to preventing race and color discrimination in the workplace.  “Employers can construct work environments that minimize perceptions of discrimination by altering workforce composition, segregation, and structures of control and formalization” (Hirsh et al, 2008, p.1426).  Race and color discrimination continue to exist in the workplace, however employers can help to reduce and eliminate this discrimination by proactively implementing appropriate policies and procedures.  Although there is no place for race or color discrimination in the workplace, it continues to exist in the workplace as well as in our everyday lives.  One only has to look as far as the nightly news in order to see examples of race discrimination. 

Disability discrimination occurs when employers treat employees with disabilities unfavorably because of their disability. Employers are also required to provide reasonable accommodations to employees and job applicants who have disabilities.  These rules apply to all aspects of employment.  Additionally, harassing employees with disabilities is also categorized as discrimination (Disability Discrimination, 2015, pp.1-4).  The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was enacted to protect disabled persons from discrimination in the workplace. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported 25,369 disability discrimination charges in their latest statistics which represented 28.6% of the total discrimination charges reported (Charge Statistics, 2014, p.1).

There are a number of theories as to why there continues to be a high number of disability discrimination claims reported. The cost to provide reasonable accommodations can be expensive; therefore employers do not invest in implementing the accommodations.  “This result and the fact that the costs of reasonable accommodation are probably larger than the costs of litigation for wrongful termination suggest that accommodation costs have been at least as important for employers as the fear of lawsuits” (Acemoglu, Angrist, 2001, p.36).  This suggests that from the employer’s perspective, lawsuits associated with disability discrimination may be less expensive than the cost to provide reasonable accommodations.  In addition, a high percentage of disability discrimination charges are associated with employment terminations.  “This suggests that employer policies and practices to date are not adequately structured to successfully keep disabled and older workers on the payroll; clearly, these workers feel pushed out before they are ready to leave voluntarily” (Bjelland et al, 2010, p.23).  There is no place for disability discrimination in the workplace today. Employers need to promote corporate cultures which are inclusive.  For example, “A culture that allows for age or disability discrimination will prevent senior workers and those with disabilities from reaching their full potential” (Bjelland et al, 2010, p.24).   Finally, as the workforce ages over the coming years it is likely that there will be more disabled workers.  Employers need to position themselves to limit and ultimately eliminate disability discrimination else they will face a significant cost.

Age discrimination occurs when an employee or job applicant is treated unfairly because of their age, in particular workers who are 40 and over.  These rules apply to all aspects of employment (Age Discrimination, 2015, p.1). The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 protects workers who are 40 and over from age discrimination. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported 20,588 age discrimination charges in their latest statistics which represented 23.2% of the total age discrimination charges reported (Charge Statistics, 2014, p.1).

The population in the United States is aging and has resulted in an increased number of older workers.  As a result, there is a greater risk of age discrimination in the workplace because of the larger number of older people in the workforce. “This research suggests that employers discriminate against older workers during the job application process. Once on the job, age discrimination is prevalent and impacts the job security, deployment, retention, and promotion of older workers” (Bjelland et al, 2010, p.5).   Costs associated with older workers are another contributing factor to age discrimination in the workplace.  For instance, “Because health insurance costs are higher for older individuals and workers, rising health insurance costs seem poised to become an increasing drag on employment of older individuals” (Neumark, 2008, pp. 59-60). An aging workforce and rising costs are contributing factors to age discrimination in the workplace.

Other forms of discrimination such as sexual orientation, gender identity, weight, and religion are also still found in the American workplace.  Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people face discrimination in the workplace and often times make less money than heterosexual people (Badgett et al, 2007, p.1).  Workers who weigh more also face discrimination in the workplace and are depicted by the following statement from Sarah Bramblette, “Workers who weigh more are perceived to be lazy and unhealthy, and it’s assumed they are less intelligent because any smart person would know how to lose weight and be healthy” (Mertens, 2015, p.2).   Weight discrimination is more prevalent than one might think.  Rebecca Puhl stated, “Some research in the U.S. has found that among women, weight discrimination is comparable to rates of racial discrimination” (Mertens, 2015, p.3)  Finally, religious discrimination is also occurring in the American workplace. Some trends that are contributing to religious discrimination are:  “(1) legal ambiguities, (2) increased religious diversity in the American workforce, (3) increasing expression of religious beliefs, and (4) the unique nature of religion” (Ryan et al, 2013, p.439).   As one can see, there are many different forms of discrimination still found in the workplace.

Discrimination continues to be prevalent in the American workplace.  Discrimination comes in many forms.  Employees may encounter discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender, weight, and religion (Hassan, 2015, p.1).  Discrimination in the workplace can adversely impact companies as exemplified by the following statement.  “Workplace discrimination, in any form, can poison company culture, stifle innovation and depress morale.  But the harmful effects go much further.  It can spell ruin for executive teams and result in serious financial penalties for companies who allow discrimination issues to fester” (Fredeen, 2015, p.1). As a result, companies need to strive to eliminate discrimination from the workplace and educate their employees relative to workplace diversity.  Additionally, the discrimination laws in the United States should be reviewed and revised as they clearly have not eliminated discrimination in the workplace. Perhaps the discrimination laws need to be modernized to better deal with issues that both employers and employees face in today’s workplace issues.

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