RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT.   Term Paper ID:29307 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Discusses forms of discrimination. Original protection under Civil Rights Act of 1964. Focus in recent years on gender, age and disabilities rather than on race. Problem of widespread discrimination in the workplace. Growing number of complaints of racial bias. African American and other minority communities. Access to legal means to address discrimination against minority groups. Paper Introduction: Racial Discrimination in Employment: A Continuing Problem The legal framework of protection against employment discrimination is the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which as amended provides protection against race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or age [Civil Rights Division 1]. Protection against discrimination based on disabilities is provided by separate legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act. In recent years, media attention with respect to the employment discrimination issue has tended to focus more on gender, age, disabilities, and so on, rather than on race. Several factors may contribute to this shift of emphasis. One is that these other forms of discrimination may affect a larger total number of people. Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Inspite of the "racial privacy" initiative, the political environment inCalifornia is in general more liberal than in other parts of the country.This may -- or may not -- make individuals feel more comfortable in filingactual complaints. The California statistics also showed that 49 percent, almost exactlyhalf, of complaints of racial discrimination in employment were filed byAfrican-Americans [Informed California 2]. Whether this means that blacks are subject to proportionally greateremployment discrimination (or other groups to less) is again uncertain.Historical experience has made African-Americans acutely aware of theimportance of the political and legal process in asserting and defendingtheir rights. Often, statistical evidence is the only clearindicator of a pattern. In contrast, other minority communities have less historicalexperience of political and legal self-help, and thus fewer internalresources to draw on. Generally, racial discrimination tends to beregarded as "yesterday's" social issue. A small employer can more readily plead happenstance, which whendealing with small numbers is more difficult to disprove. Even the federal government, where administrative protections mightbe supposed to be strongest, was found in a General Accounting Officereport in 1997 to show a rising trend in employment discrimination reports. Middle-class whites, who are the primary demographic towardwhich the news media are oriented, may have few personal contacts withblacks or other minorities, whose experience thus remains abstract to mostnews consumers. Racial Discrimination in Employment: A Continuing Problem The legal framework of protection against employment discriminationis the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which as amended provides protectionagainst race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or age [Civil RightsDivision 1]. This is somewhat greater thanthe percentage of blacks among minority group populations in California, inwhich Latinos are the largest minority, with numerous other minority groupspresent. They can point to the obvious success ofcelebrities, from Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice to Oprah Winfrey andBarry bonds, as indications that discrimination has largely vanished. When dramatic incidents of racismoccur, as in hate crimes, these can be regarded as throwback events on thefringes of American life. Rising Trends in EEO ComplaintCaseloads in the Federal Sector. Other evidence also points to substantial persistingdiscrimination, by no means confined to small private employers who mightfeel freer to interject their personal biases into employment decisions. Ignoring the issue, much less eliminatingaccess to statistical evidence of it, is not a solution. If, however, we assume that racial discrimination in employment, assuch, is neither more nor less pervasive in California than elsewhere inthe United States, this would correspond to about 25 , comparable casesnationwide. This move, which has broughtCalifornia statistics to attention, also testifies to the interest in somepolitical circles in obfuscating the entire issue of persisting racialdiscrimination. Clearly the needis for more rather than less public discussion of the problem, and renewedeffort toward providing access to legal and administrative means ofredressing it, as well as continued public education on racialdiscrimination in employment and its effects on all Americans. On the other hand,if a firm or work group has ten workers and none are minority-groupmembers, the statistical basis supporting a suspicion of bias is much morelimited. In fact, however, statistical evidence indicates that racialdiscrimination in employment remains widespread. Moreover, the trend appears tobe rising rather than declining. Thestatistics thus may well understate the level of employment discriminationagainst other minority groups. Works CitedCivil Rights Division (1997). Finally, while filed complaints may include some cases without merit,and others that are suspicious but not provable, an unknown number andpercentage of instances of employment discrimination due to racial biasmust never lead to a complaint. In contrast, residential and social separation of races is still veryconsiderable. Immigrants from nations with authoritarian politicalsystems, or even the children of such immigrants, may have little or noconfidence in the political process or the legal system. Indeed, the news-consuming middle class has limited realcontact with the working poor of any race, who are most likely to sufferdiscrimination on any grounds, and have the fewest resources with which tofight back. In recent years, media attention with respect to the employmentdiscrimination issue has tended to focus more on gender, age, disabilities,and so on, rather than on race. Significantly, a petition is now circulating to place a "racialprivacy" referendum on the 2 4 California ballot that would ban collectionof much statistical data regarding race. Racial discrimination thus remains a very real problem, and by someindications a growing one. Having said all this, the available statistics do provide guidance asto the extent and trends of employment discrimination. Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Race,Color, National Origin, Sex, Religion, or Age. Statistics on the number of complaints filed, or trends in filing, donot allow direct evaluation of how these complaints were disposed. GAO Briefing Report to CongressionalRequesters (July) 1998.Informed California. Employersand supervisors, aware of the law, are less likely than they were ageneration or two ago to openly acknowledge racial bias as a motive intheir employment decisions. Anygiven complaint may or may not have merit. Half the population (or slightly more) is female, and everyone maysome day find himself or herself a victim of age discrimination inemployment. Protection against discrimination based on disabilities isprovided by separate legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act. Complaints were particularly widespread in the Postal Service, one of thelargest quasi-government employers [GAO 2]. Several factors may contribute to thisshift of emphasis. Workers may be unaware of their rights, ormay not believe that they can prove their case, or may simply theirshoulders and look for other work elsewhere, rather than put time andeffort into an uncertain legal or administrative remedy. If an employer of 1 people is located in an area where minoritiesmake 2 percent of the qualified workforce, but has only 5 percent minorityworkers, the statistical evidence for bias is strong. Discrimination on account of disabilities affects fewer peopledirectly, but individuals with disabilities are found in every populationsubgroup. Some may well sincerely believe that discrimination was the cause,even if the facts do not bear this out. In California, in theyear 2 , no fewer than 27,999 formal complaints were filed allegingemployment discrimination on account of race [Informed California 2]. On the other hand, many inherently valid complaints may be rejecteddue to lack of clear and readily available supporting evidence. Black communities are thus politically mobilized, and haveat hand a network of support resources on which workers can call. Moreover, race remains an uncomfortable subject for majority whiteAmerica. Undocumentedimmigrants have essentially no access to protection; for them, bringingthemselves to the attention of the authorities means deportation. A great many people would prefer to assume that the race issuehas essentially been solved. Disgruntled workers, unhappy at(say) being denied a promotion, may allege discrimination when no groundsexist. Washington: U.S.Department of Justice, 1997.General Accounting Office (1998). Thus everyone may have a friend or family member who might besubjected to employment discrimination due to a disability. If we suppose,plausibly, that the number of unmerited complaints is at least balanced bycases with potential merit that are never filed, we can presume thatnationwide there are at least a quarter-million substantial instances ofracial employment discrimination each year. Fighting Hate Crime and Discrimination.Coalition for an Informed California, 2 2.----------------------- 7 Similarly, those minority-group members whom members of the news-consuming white middle class do know are likely to be also middle-classprofessionals, whose success implies that racial discrimination inemployment is no longer a problem. One is that these other forms of discrimination mayaffect a larger total number of people. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.