Discrimination in the Workplace

Racism is defined as prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. In the workforce, the issue of racism and discrimination has been brought to the center of conversations around the world. Companies claim to be “colorblind” and not hire somebody based on their race or gender, but the employment rates among minorities and women around the world is significantly lower than the majority in the given country. There is also the growing issue of minorities, such as blacks in america, making significantly less money than whites. This issue affects people all around the world who happen

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Walmart is the biggest importer of foreign products in the United States. For this, Walmart created a code of conduct for its foreign suppliers as “Standards for Suppliers”. To meet this code of conduct foreign supplier need to follow all the local law, rules and regulations of country and the working condition of industry like pay, hiring forced labor, child labor and discrimination. This code of conduct states Walmart may make on-site inspection to the foreign products that is going to be imported in Walmart USA by which it can cancel or reject the low standard product while site inspection. These are included in Walmart’s supply contract with its suppliers in foreign countries. The foreign workers who are importing goods to Walmart from China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Swaziland and Nicaragua sued Walmart to the US district court alleging that they were third party beneficiaries to the Walmart’s contract to its foreign suppliers that due to the Walmart’s breach of standard they were due damages from Walmart. Their employees violated the standards because of Walmart failed to investigate on working condition of foreign suppliers. Even knowing the standards were being violated Walmart failed to implement the standards mentioned there in contract. The U.S. court held that the litigants were not intended third party beneficiaries to Walmart’s contract to its foreign suppliers and terminated the

Female employees of the Bank of American filed a lawsuit in 2010 alleging that the employer engaged in gender-based discriminatory work practices against women working in FA jobs

The women in this case felt discomfort when they felt mistreated from their male managers in the form of sexism along with unfair pay and lack of promotions. In this case, a woman was told to doll up and to wear makeup in order to advance which is a perfect example of one’s boundaries being pushed while making them feel uncomfortable. The next conflict event was annoyance. According to the Huffington Post article regarding the case, there was a significant difference between the level of experience between male and female workers along with their opportunity for promotions. The male workers with less experience got promotions compared to the female workers with years of experience and positive performance reviews. Male workers were also paid more compared to their female coworkers. Being passed over for jobs was evident to the women identified in this case which lead to the awareness of gender discrimination, the next conflict event, in a diverse workplace with men and women with their only similarity being that they are Wal-Mart employees. The awareness of gender discrimination faced by thousands of female employees led to conflict, the last conflict event where a class-action lawsuit was filed against Wal-Mart despite them saying that they were a diversity encouraging, fair treatment, and nondiscriminatory company (Shapiro,

In a perfect world, people would be equal in rights, opportunities, and responsibilities, despite their race or gender. In the world we live in, however, we always face all kinds of neglect based on different attributes. All over the United States, certain people treat others with prejudice because of particular features they possess. Unfortunately, prejudice and discrimination occur even in places which, by definition, should be free of all personal prejudices – specifically, in offices and other business surroundings. This tragedy is called workplace discrimination; not every unfair behavior at work, however, can be assessed as discrimination. Discrimination in the workplace happens when an employee experiences unfair treatment due to their race, gender, age, religion, marital status, national origin, disability or veteran status, or other characteristics. Discrimination is one of the largest issues people face in the workplace and it must be dealt with. The U.S. have laws and regulations on discrimination but it still often occurs. Workplace discrimination appears in hiring, training, promotion, firing, and other institutional or interpersonal treatment. Discrimination sometimes causes an employee to leave or quit the workplace, resign from a position, or in more severe cases, to commit suicide or act violently against the discriminators. Discrimination is one of the largest issues many people face in the workplace.

There is currently a group of women trying to bring a class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart for gender discrimination. The case was originally filed in 2001 by six women who claimed that Wal-Mart discriminated against them by paying men more money and promoting them faster inside the company. It has turned into a group that could be as many as 1.5 million current and former Wal-Mart employees, who’s jobs ranged from greeter to manager.

In this case, Betty Dukes, a female Wal-Mart employee, with five other women, filed a class-action against the violation of civil rights by the Wal-Mart company. The claim was that the

Judges ruled that Walmart was in violation of labor relations laws and must reinstate those who were fired from the company (Malcolm). The labor relations laws protect the rights of employees and employers (NLRB). They state that “employees have the right to self-organization, to form, to join, or assist labor organizations to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, and shall also have the right to refrain from any or all of such activities except to the extent that such right may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment as authorized in section (NLRB, 8a). Knowing that the workers were able to convene and were protected under these labor laws, it shows that this act of “civil disobedience” they were labeled with was in fact not civil disobedience at all. Though Walmart claims they were “defending their company by imposing “consequences” on those who did not show up for work (Jamieson), this action was labelled abuse of national labor laws.

Reevaluation of Walmart’s training is necessary and is supported by current research which finds that there is a link between training and expect organizational and human resource outcomes. Research find that “that companies that conduct training are more likely to have more positive human resource outcomes and greater performance outcomes” (Noe, 2013, p. 234). By determining who needs training, the skills and knowledge that needs to be taught, and the timeframe the training needs to be completed in, the training can be tailored to meet the needs of the company as well as its employees.

District Court for the Northern District of California granted class certification, potentially making Wal-Mart liable for any acts of discrimination of 1.6 million of their current and former female employees. As this case continued to move forward, the plaintiffs alleged that these practices were consistent between every store of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and in return, they sought “class-wide injunctive and declaratory relief, lost wages, and punitive damages.” The defendant fought this class certification, stating that each member of the class should file individual litigation. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. claimed that, “the size of the class made it impossible to manage and increased the costs

When a person is discriminated against their race, gender, and age. This is some of the most evident forms of discrimination. I believe the most qualified person should receive the job, regardless of race or ethnicity. When employers disrupt workplace discrimination, legally they can be sued by the person or persons and receive bad publicity. When a employee hurts from unfair treatment due to their race and religion. Proving discrimination is difficult as is can occur in a number of work-related areas, during your initial hiring phase, during training or even after you get the job and have to participate in job evaluations. As far as ethnicity goes, Americans come in every color, shape, and size and a successful business is one that understands

While the world has unanimously advanced and is more accepting of change, the workplace continues to be a place of discrimination, prejudice and inequality. Discrimination is broadly defined to ‘distinguish unfavourably’, isolate; and is context based (Pagura, 2012). Abrahams (1991) described the workplace as an ‘inhospitable place’ where gender disparity and wage gaps persist (Stamarski & Son Hing, 2015). Among other states and countries, the Australian government actively implements and passes laws to protect and maintain equal employment rights. While the objective of these laws is ‘to eliminate discrimination,’ the regulatory mechanisms in the legislation are largely ineffective at achieving this ultimate goal (Smith, 2008). However,

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.

Wal-Mart is arguably the most dynamic corporation in the last 50 years in the United States, if not the world. Arising from its beginnings in Bentonville, Arkansas, it has grown to over 4,400 discount stores, super centers and corner markets worldwide. Wal-Mart continues to expand despite public criticism of its labor practices as well as complaints about their treatment of competitors. The many strengths of Wal-Mart, like their low cost production and marketing practices, will aid Wal-Mart as it continues to grow in the retail

“The complaint, filed with the National Labor Relations Board, alleges that Wal-Mart violated federal labor law by "bribing" employees to report on co-workers who favored a union.” (www.washingtonpost.com). But Wal-Mart denied the charges that were brought against the company. Thus, Wal-Mart is wrong by bribing employees for it encourages dishonest behavior. If Wal-Mart wants to avoid a hearing or a lawsuit in this situation, they need to post notices saying the retailer will not oppose employees talking to union representatives. In addition, if Wal-Mart takes more seriously the employees’ complaints, it might encourage them not to unionize.