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

is claiming to be discriminated against and the company’s perspective, which provides reasoning as to why Maria was denied the job position. Strategies to avoid similar situations of workplace discrimination will also be examined and discussed.
The situation in question begins with Maria’s claim of being discriminated against based on her accent and Latino culture.

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

discrimination, the unjust or mistreatment of an individual (Harvey & Allard, 2012). The supervisor’s statement demonstrates a possible indication of Maria being unfairly treated.
An employee’s expectation to be treated fairly at their workplace environment is largely supported by Equal Employment Opportunity laws. As an independent federal agency, their goal is to promote equal opportunity in employment through administrative and judicial enforcement of the federal civil rights laws (U.S. Department of Labor, 2014). These laws provide considerable protection for employees from workplace transgression by their employers or colleagues. Despite current laws and policies enacted to protect individual self-respect, many people continue to suffer from employment discrimination. The laws are well defined and state treatment on the job regarding hiring, firing, and promotions must be based on an individual’s qualifications and merit (U.S. Department of Labor, 2014). It is illegal to discriminate against an individual’s gender, race, age, disability, sexual orientation, or religious belief. In this given situation, Maria feels that she has been discriminated against at work and has filed a Charge of Discrimination against the company. Mediation may also be suggested to her as an informal and confidential method to resolve the dispute (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2014). If mediation is unsuccessful, an investigator may be assigned to the case to look further into the case details.
The company states that Maria is a good employee, but is often disruptive to her colleagues due to her loud and aggressive approach to others. There is a record of reported issues regarding her attendance and tardiness. Supervisors have counseled her twice for tardiness and once for absence. Maria’s reasoning for her behavior consists of family problems and her requirement to help a family member in need. The company claims that the issue of Maria’s accent was presented and that it was a major factor when considering her for the promotion, but not because of discrimination. Maria is described as a fast speaker with an inability to comprehend her at times. The company alleges that the ability to communicate clearly was an essential requirement.
According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2014), under the national origin and employment policies and practices an employer can only require an employee to speak fluent English if it is necessary to perform the job efficiently. Employees are not required to speak only English unless it is needed to ensure the safe and efficient operation of an employer’s business while being enforced for nondiscriminatory reasons (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2014). The law also states that unless an employee’s accent seriously interferes with the employee’s job performance, an employer may not base an employment decision on the employee’s foreign accent (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2014). After analyzing this situation, the company promotion policy of the company is debatable. The supervisor is basing his promotion decision for Maria on his opinion and assumption that clients would have difficulty understanding her accent.
The management officials of the company chose to promote Alex, an employee who has been with the company for less time than Maria and considered to be a motivated employee with better job evaluations. The company declares that Maria is frequently loud and aggressive in her approach to colleagues, which is intolerable. Aggressive behavior in the workplace environment places employees at risk, interferes with another employee’s productivity, and can damage the company’s reputation. Even if the aggressive behavior isn’t deliberate, it leads to distrust and decreases morale and may eventually lead to progressively violent behavior.
Heretick (2011) concludes, “Employees who experience interpersonal aggression have significantly lower job satisfaction, supervisor satisfaction, affective commitment, and psychological well-being in addition to higher turnover and increased job stress”.

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,

2004).
Discrimination prevention and support systems should be made available to employees who face personal issues, language barriers, or any other problems that may affect their work performance. Maria has admitted to having family issues that interfere with her work attendance, which may also be a result of unsatisfactory performance and negative attitude at work. In order for companies to avoid discriminatory practices in the workplace, they can reduce the risk by establishing written objective standards when evaluating employees for promotions or hire (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2014). This method establishes consistency and can help ensure that all candidates are being evaluated equally.
Maria has been with the company for 10 years and in her current position for 7 years. Furthermore, her accent has not prevented her from performing her current job position and her length of employment with the company shows dedication and loyalty towards the company. Employers can assist their employees who possess strong accents by approving to pay for training classes to decrease their accent. Voice training and accent reduction courses can assist employees in improving presentations, workshops, and daily conversations (Luongo, 2007). These workshops focus on assisting individuals to learn a different accent. Accent reduction workshops are not meant to make an employee feel as if they are not good at their job. It’s to assist them in becoming even better at their job. In this situation, Maria might have been receptive to completing this training and learning an American accent if given the opportunity by her employer.
Diversity surrounds us at school, work, and at social gatherings where we are continuously exposed to individuals from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Companies must recognize the importance in promoting diversity within the workforce and take action to prevent situations such as Maria’s from happening in the future. When companies recognize the variety of differences in people, value them as individuals, respect them for who they are, and try to accommodate these differences when possible these individuals can fully participate in a working environment. The management of diversity within the workplace is imperative in order to prevent discrimination. State laws and legislative protection against employment discrimination isn’t enough. Becoming familiar with antidiscrimination laws, developing and implementing antidiscrimination policies, mandating antidiscrimination training, and investigating employee complaints of discrimination can assist employers in being proactive to prevent inequality and discrimination in the workplace.