Diversity In The Workplace

Workplace diversity is an important component to promote and encourage cultural differences amongst employees. Most companies view workplace diversity as an investment towards creating a better business. While workplace diversity is usually beneficial to companies, it can create many challenges for management and employees to welcome the opportunity of workplace discrimination. Discrimination within the workplace is an injustice work issue that should be prevented in order to ensure equality amongst employees. The purpose of this paper is to look into a company’s promotion policy to determine if management has wrongfully eliminated an employee from consideration for a promotion. The content will reflect the employee perspective, Maria, who

Maria has filed a complaint against her employer for being unfairly eliminated for consideration for a promotion. Maria is the only person of color and the only woman in her department. She argues that her lower evaluations reflect a built-in bias of her white male supervisors and alleges that the company is engaging in discriminatory practices. Under the law against discrimination, bona fide occupational qualifications allow an employer to consider certain employment qualifications, such as race, sex, age, and national origin, when making decisions to hire or retain employees (Washington State Legislature, 2014). The qualification must relate to an essential job duty and be considered necessary to the operation of business. For example, a position that requires an individual to be bilingual in English and Spanish must be based on the job qualification of the person’s spoken language competency, not national origin or mere customer satisfaction (Washington State Legislature, 2014). In Maria’s situation, her supervisor told her that she was not being promoted due to his fear that clients would have difficulty understanding her accent. The supervisor’s reasoning is not valid and does not justify a bona fide occupational qualification defense. These facts suggest that the company is engaging in an unlawful employment practice such as individual

The U.S. Department of Labor provides information to companies regarding workplace violence on how to assess threats in various settings as well as prevention plans and programs (U.S. Department of Labor, 2014). It is possible that Maria may be exhibiting aggressive behavior towards her colleagues and supervisors if she believes she is being discriminated against or feels a lack of support from management. In that case, management should assist Maria in feeling valued and supported by exploring her perspective and seek personal assistance for her, if necessary. Companies can assist their staff in improving their health, maintaining safety at work, and increasing productivity amongst employees by looking into assistance programs. These programs include employee assistance and family support services, work and life solutions, and clinical health services (Federal Occupational Health,