Introduction Discrimination in the workplace continues to be topics and issues of discussion, despite efforts to minimize or eliminate its ugly head. Discrimination is defined as the unfair or prejudicial treatment of people based on race, gender, disability or age (Fieser, 2015). Furthermore, some companies has used other forms in conjunction with discrimination like sexual harassment to mask unjust treatment in the workplace. Lilly Ledbetter was an employee at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Inc. for over 19 years. During this period, she consistently received low rankings in her annual performance-and-salary reviews. As a result, Lilly received significantly lower raises than her male counterparts, which led to her filing a civil lawsuit …show more content…
Ethics and morality goes back 4,000 years to the Mesopotamian Code of Hammurabi. This code outlined ethics for builders by holding them accountable for their work. For example, if a builder builds a house and the roof tumbles down, the builders must repair it out of their own pocket. Although, this concept may seem simple, it embodies principles that would last throughout the ages (Feiser, 2015). The Lilly Ledbetter case is no different from those times where principles and accountability were held in high regards. Everyone has a duty and a responsibility to do what is right for themselves and others. Duty theory, also known as Deontology applies to the Ledbetter case. According to Fieser (2015), duty theory “the position that moral standards are grounded in instinctive rational obligations or duties that we have. We are all born with basic moral principles or guidelines embedded in us, and we use these to judge the morality of people’s actions” (Fieser, 2015). Duty theory implies it is our duty to judge someone’s morality based off his or her action, therefore those who discriminate is immoral. …show more content…
This act also covers sexual harassment in the workplace. Discrimination disrupt good order and discipline and creates a hostile environment. These actions are considered immoral and as law-abiding citizens, it is our duty to intervene to curtail these types’ actions. Duty theory talks about two approaches, the first imply we all have a catalog of instinctive obligations. The Ten Commandments is a perfect example because it speaks about not killing, committing adultery, covet thy neighbor things and bear false witness. These practices have been adopted by many cultures, which play an important role in their
Rosa Lee Cunningham is a 52-year old African American female. She is 5-foot-1-inch, 145 pounds. Rosa Lee is married however, is living separately from her husband. She has eight adult children, Bobby, Richard, Ronnie, Donna (Patty), Alvin, Eric, Donald (Ducky) and one child who name she did not disclose. She bore her eldest child at age fourteen and six different men fathered her children. At Rosa Lee’s recent hospital admission to Howard University Hospital emergency room blood test revealed she is still using heroin. Though Rosa Lee recently enrolled in a drug-treatment program it does not appear that she has any intention on ending her drug usage. When asked why she no longer uses heroin she stated she doesn’t always have the resources to support her addiction. Rosa Lee is unemployed and receiving very little in government assistance. She appears to
Nye, Howard. PHIL 250 B1, Winter Term 2014 Lecture Notes – Ethics. University of Alberta.
As Confucius states, “To know what is right and wrong, and to not do it is the worst cowardice.” Duty, obligation of one person to another, flows from eons of social culture, philosophy, and religion. Ethics are similar to the mortar that holds the bricks of law and statutes together – without the mortar, the wall would be more prone to collapse. Ethics are different from laws in that they are an unenforceable moral code or set of principles to guide behavior, though there may be regulatory bodies which can act if the ethics have been breached. In the case of Lewis Blackman, the primary ethical principle of non-maleficence was breeched,
David Dunlap, a 52-year old African American male with 25 year boilermaker experience, 15 years of which include foreman experience, brought suit under Title VII, alleging racial discrimination by the TVA after being looked over after interviewing for positions within the TVA. The district court agreed that “Dunlap had been subjected to discrimination under both disparate treatment and disparate impact analyses, concluding that TVA’s subjective hiring processes permitted racial bias against both Dunlap and other black applicants” (Walsh, 2010). The case was heard by the 6th District Court of Appeals and that court “affirmed the disparate treatment claim, reversed the disparate impact claim, and affirmed the district court’s award of damages and fees to Mr. Dunlap” (Walsh, ...
In today’s world, the American still has barriers to overcome in the matter of racial equality. Whether it is being passed over for a promotion at the job or being underpaid, some people have to deal with unfair practice that would prevent someone of color or the opposite sex from having equal opportunity at the job. In 2004, Dukes vs. Wal-Mart Stores Incorporation was a civil rights class-action suite that ruled in favor of the women who worked and did not received promotions, pay and certain job assignments. This proves that some corporations ignore the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which protects workers from discrimination based on sex, race, religion or national origin.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission chart shows a decrease in gender discrimination since 2012, and remaining at a constant 29% of cases filed at the end of 2015. A straightforward approach is used to propose gender stereotypes by naming, identifying, and understanding the context. An example on how gender stereotyping comes into place, nurses are usually females, and you don’t see as many men in the healthcare field working as a nurses because it is for women. Gender discrimination comes in play when harm is applied to an individual. A woman may want a job that portray the role of a man, and she is discriminated against, and The Equal Employment Opportunity states what laws are being
Disparate treatment is a form of discrimination that is prohibited by laws in which all employers must comply, including fire and emergency services. Disparate treatment in the workplace is applicable to many functions of the workplace, including, discipline, promotions, hiring, firing, benefits, layoffs, and testing (Varone, 2012). The claim of disparate treatment arises when a person or group “is treated differently because of a prohibited classification” (Varone, 2012, p. 439). In the 2010 case, Lewis v. City of Chicago, six plaintiffs accused the city of disparate treatment following testing for open positions within the Chicago Fire Department (Lewis v. City of Chicago, 2010). The case is based on the argument that the Chicago Fire Department firefighter candidate testing, which was conducted in 1995, followed an unfair process of grouping eligible candidates, therefore discriminating against candidates of African-American descent.
Discrimination is known to exist in all workplaces, sometimes it is too subtle to notice, and other times it is exceedingly obvious. It is known that everyone subconsciously discriminates, dependant on their own beliefs and environments that surround them. However, discrimination can be either positive or negative in their results, and sometimes discrimination is a necessary part of life.
Discrimination continues to run rampant throughout organizations in both the United States and worldwide. The Supreme Court case, Dukes vs. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., dealt with 1.5 million current and former female Wal-Mart employees that claim that they had been a victim of gender discrimination. The ensuing pages will discuss the specific issues that the plaintiffs encountered, followed by suggestions from a human resource manager’s stand point in rectifying adverse impact within the Wal-Mart organization.
Lilly Featherstone was searched and asked questions at the festival campsite by the police. The police have acted lawfully at this stage as the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) s 1. States that any person can be stopped and searched by a constable at public places for stolen or prohibited articles, however, police must have reasonable grounds in order to carry out a search. The festival campsite is considered to be a public area and the police had reasonable grounds for suspecting that they would found the articles as she has fitted the description the victims had gave such has black curly hair, Dr Martens boots and one of the victims have said that she had lots bracelets on her arm which Lilly Featherstone seem to match.
Discrimination is defined as an “unfair treatment of a person, racial group, minority, or an action based on prejudice”, it means to “distinguish, single out, or make a distinction between two people” (Gender). There are many ways that someone might be discriminated against in the workplace. Often you cannot pick up a newspaper and read through it without reading about at least one workplace discrimination case. Workplace discrimination can be anything from being treated unfavorably because of your skin color to something as simple as a personality trait. Whether the discrimination comes from a supervisor, co-worker or even a customer, it is considered illegal. The US. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Discrimination at work is a touchy issue. Most people, if not all, have experienced some sort or form of it and they ignored it, quit, or got fired from their job. Women tend to be more emotional than men and when women are judged and discriminated they are offended by it immediately. Also, the fact of women getting a lower income than men for the same job is almost unbelievable. It is very important to be concerned on the issue because it is constantly increasing throughout the United States. It upsets me that women are paid less than men because women have the same ability and work ethic as men do, but they are looked at differently. According to AAUW, women are making 77 percent of what men make. This rate hasn’t changed since 2002 (Hill, 2013). Statistics show that women will never make as much as men due to the thought of never being comparable to men (Williams, 2013).
Equality, as we know it today, has been formed and molded into an idea that is still changing. Government officials, laws, and most influentially, people of the United States, have aided in the prevention of oppression towards women of all races and classes. The efforts of these individuals are counteracted with instances throughout history to prove that these men and women are not treated as if there were an equal condition. There are many instances of discrimination still present today, and one place it is most relevant is in the workplace. Not only are workers separated by gender in their place of work, but also, many women are being segregated inside their own group by race. Suzanne Pharr’s book Homophobia, A Weapon of Sexism as well as Alice Kessler-Harris’s article, The Wage Conceived are prominent writings that prove this abundance of discrimination is still plaguing workplaces nationwide. The points of Pharr and Kessler-Harris are valued to question if women will ever escape the indecency of this injustice.
Workplace harassment is unwelcome actions that are based on a person’s race, religion, color, and sex, and gender, country of origin, age, ethnicity or disability. The targets of the harassment are people who are usually perceived as “weaker” or “inferior” by the person who is harassing them. Companies and employers can also be guilty of workplace harassment if they utilize discriminatory practices against persons based on ethnicity, country of origin, religion, race, color, age, disability, or sex. These discriminatory practices have been illegal since the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Civil Rights Act of 1964), and have been amended to be more inclusive of other people who experience discrimination by the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (The Civil Rights Act of 1991), and most recently, President Obama’s signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (Stolberg, 2009).
Exploitation of workers and discrimination in the workforce can be in things such as the pay gap, or unequal opportunities for some people due to their gender, sexuality, disability, race, beliefs, marital status, age, weight and sometimes just appearances. This sort of discrimination has been occurring all over the world for as long as we can remember, but even now that it is a known issue, and there are laws against it, there has been little to no improvement in this issue. Some laws that prohibit discrimination in the workplace, particularly include;