Fundamentals of Human Resource Management Eighth Edition
DeCenzo and Robbins
Chapter 3 Equal Opportunity Employment
Introduction ● Government legislation affects all HRM functions ● State and municipal laws impact
HRM, as well as the Federal laws
Introduction ● Government legislation affects all HRM functions ● State and municipal laws impact
HRM, as well as the Federal laws
Laws Affecting Discriminatory Practices ● Legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of
race, sex, and national origin before the 1964 Civil Rights Act Civil Rights Act of 1866 ● Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution ●
Laws Affecting Discriminatory Practices
Civil Rights Act of 1964 ● Title VII prohibits discrimination in: hiring ● compensation ● terms, conditions or privileges of employment ●
● based on: ● ● ● ● ●
race religion color sex national origin
● Applies to any organization with 15 or more
employees.
Civil Rights Act of 1964 ● Griggs v. Duke Power Company (1971) ●
demonstrated that selection criteria must be directly relevant to the job.
● Equal Employment Opportunity Act (EEOA) ●
Granted enforcement powers to the EEOC
● Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) ●
The arm of the federal government empowered to handle discrimination in employment cases
Civil Rights Act of 1964 ● Affirmative Action Reflect the 1972 premise that white males made up the majority of workers ● Companies in the 70’s were still growing and could accommodate more workers ● Minorities should be hired to correct past prejudice ● Legal and social coercion were necessary to bring about change ●
● Involves: analyzing current work force demographics ● establishing goals and timetables for correcting imbalances ●
Civil Rights Act of 1964 ● Controversy and criticism of preferences in
employment for protected groups is causing legislative bodies to take a second look at Affirmative Action. ● Adverse (disparate) impact ●
occurs when there is a greater rejection rate in an occupation for a protected group (those protected under discrimination laws) than for the majority group.
● Adverse (disparate) treatment ●
occurs when members of a protected group are treated differently than other employees.
Laws Affecting Discriminatory Practices ● Executive Order (E.O.) 11246 ●
Prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, color, and national origin
● Affects
Federal agencies ● Those working under federal contracts ●
● Executive Order (E.O.) 11375 ● Added
sex-based discrimination
Laws Affecting Discriminatory Practices ● Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 protects those 40 and older ● eliminates mandatory retirement and the arbitrary replacement of older workers with younger workers ● provides for oversight in pension and benefit issues ●
Laws Affecting Discriminatory Practices ● Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 Employment decisions may not be based on an individual’s pregnancy ● Must treat pregnancy as any other short-term disability ● Supplemented by various state laws ●
Laws Affecting Discriminatory Practices ● The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) Extends protection of Vocational Rehabilitation Act to most forms of disability status (including AIDS and other contagious diseases). ● Requires companies to make reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants and employees. ● Covers private companies and all public service organizations. ●
Laws Affecting Discriminatory Practices ● The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 ●
Employees in organizations employing 50 or more workers can take up to 12 weeks unpaid leave each year for ● ● ●
Childbirth Adoption Own illness or illness of a family member
Employees must meet eligibility requirements to be covered. ● Employers must meet certain communication requirements under the Act. ●
Laws Affecting Discriminatory Practices ● Executive Order 11478 ● Amends
E.O. 11246 ● Practices in the federal government must be based on merit ● Prohibits discrimination based on: ● ● ●
Political affiliation Marital status Physical handicap
Laws Affecting Discriminatory Practices ● Civil Rights Act of 1991 ● ● ● ●
● ●
Passed after Supreme Court decisions diminished effect of Griggs decision. Prohibits racial harassment Returns burden of proof to employer Reinforces illegality of making hiring, firing or promotion decisions on basis of race, ethnicity, sex or religion Permits women and religious minorities to seek punitive damages in intentional discriminatory claims Included the Glass Ceiling Act
Guarding Against Discrimination Practices ● Determining Potential Discriminatory Practices
The 4/5ths Rule ● Restricted Policy ● Geographical Comparisons ● McDonnell-Douglas Test ●
Guarding Against Discrimination Practices ● The 4/5ths Rule
Guideline established by EEOC Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures. ● Compares selection ratio for minority applicants to that for majority applicants ● If less than 4/5ths (80%), discrimination may have occurred. ● Applies to all steps in a selection process. ●
Guarding Against Discrimination Practices ● Restricted Policy ●
infractions occur when HRM activities result in exclusion of a class of individuals ●
E.g., laying off employees over age 40 while recruiting younger workers
Guarding Against Discrimination Practices ● Geographical Comparisons Characteristics of the qualified pool of potential applicants are compared to characteristics of employees
Guarding Against Discrimination Practices ● McDonnell-Douglas Test
Individual is member of a protected group. ● Individual is qualified for job. ● Individual is rejected. ● Organization continues to seek other applicants with similar qualifications. ●
Responding to an EEO Charge ● Employers should discontinue practices which
cannot be defended. ● Practice reinstated only after
Careful study ● Practice is modified, if necessary ●
● Three defenses:
Business necessity ● Bona Fide occupations qualifications ● Seniority System ●
Responding to an EEO Charge ● Business Necessity the right to expect employees to perform successfully ● shown by demonstrating that selection criteria are jobrelated ●
Responding to an EEO Charge ● Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications
Can be use when job requirements are “Reasonably necessary to meet the normal operation of that business or enterprise” ● Title VII exceptions ●
● ● ●
Sex Age Religion
Responding to an EEO Charge ● Seniority Systems
Decisions that adversely affect protected group members may be permissible if: ● Based on well-established and consistently applied seniority systems ●
Selected Relevant Supreme Court Cases
● Cases Concerning Discrimination ● Cases Concerning Reverse Discrimination
Selected Relevant Supreme Court concerning discrimination ● CasesCases Griggs v. Duke Power (1971): Tests were illegal when they resulted in adverse impact and were not job related. ● Albemarle Paper Company v. Moody (1975): Clarified methods for using and validating tests in selection ● Wards Cove Packing Company v. Atonio (1989): Statistics alone could not support evidence of discrimination; burden of proof shifted to the plaintiff. ●
Selected Relevant Supreme Casesreverse discrimination Cases concerning ●Court Bakke v. the Regents of the University of California at Davis Medical School (1978): School could not set aside seats for minorities. ● United Steelworkers of America v. Weber (1979): Court supported company’s voluntary affirmative action training program for minorities. ●
Selected Relevant Supreme Court Cases Local 1784 v. Stotts (1984) ● Firefighter & Wyant v. Jackson Board of Education (1986): ● Affirmative
action may not take precedence over a seniority system ● Collective bargaining agreement giving preferential treatment to minorities in layoffs was illegal.
● Johnson v. Santa Clara County
Transportation (1987): ●
Preferential treatment based on AA goals permitted if non-minorities protected.
Enforcing Equal Employment Opportunity ● Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ●
Jurisdiction for Title VII and other legislation that covers charges of discrimination based on race, color, sex, national origin, age or disability.
● Five Step Process to Pursue
Charges
Enforcing Equal Employment Opportunity 1. 2. 3.
EEOC notifies company within 10 days of filing and begins investigation EEOC notifies company of findings within 120 days If unfounded, process stops If founded, EEOC tries to resolve
4. 5.
If unsuccessful, EEOC begins mediation (settlement meeting) If unsuccessful, EEOC may file charges in court
Enforcing Equal Employment Opportunity ● Office of Federal Contract Compliance
Programs (OFCCP) ●
Enforces ● ● ●
Executive Order 11246 Section 503 of Vocational Rehabilitation Act Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Act of 1974.
Operates within U.S. Dept. of Labor. ● Investigates discrimination complaints; process similar to that of EEOC. ● Can cancel employer’s contract with federal government ● Applies to any organization with a federal contract or acts as a subcontractor. ●
HRM a Global Environment affecting Human Resource ● Laws in Management vary greatly by country. ● Canadian laws closely parallel those
in the U.S. ● In Mexico, employees more likely to
be unionized. ● Australia’s discrimination laws not
enacted until the 1980s
Current Issues in Employment Law ● What is Sexual Harassment? Unwanted activity of a sexual nature that affects an individual’s employment ● Prohibited under Title VII as sex discrimination ●
● Sexual harassment can occur where: verbal or
physical conduct toward an individual: (1) creates an intimidating, offensive, or hostile environment ● (2) unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work ● (3) adversely affects employee’s employment opportunities. ●
Current Issues in Employment Law Savings Bank v. Vinson Supreme ● Meritor Court case: supported hostile environment claims; identified employer liability. ● Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc . Supreme Court case: victims don’t have to suffer substantial mental distress. ● 1998 Supreme Court ruling indicated that harassment can take place even if the employee does not experience any negative job repercussions.
