What is Employment Discrimination?
Ever since the universal declaration of human rights, most countries across the globe had in one way or another attempted to illustrate equality among its populace in all aspects. This includes the right of a person against discrimination on his employment. Therefore, it is universal that a person should only be assessed for employment based on his skills and other credentials. However, there are instances that, whether intentional or not, an employee is discriminated upon by his employers due to his background.
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Forms of Employment Discrimination
Employment discrimination any form of bias in hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, or even termination based on the employee’s race, ethnic background, gender or sexual orientation, religious affiliation, mental or physical impairment and other medical conditions, marital status, or age, among others. Setting job qualifications based on the mentioned determinants are prohibited in most countries. However, sometimes, “unintentional discriminations” are allowed, as long as the job specifications should require a specific sector only. For example, if a particular job requires that an applicant must reach a certain height limit, it may be seen as a discriminating to people from race that is biologically short. As long as possible, however, employment discrimination, whether unintentional or not, is not tolerated by the law.
Types of employment discrimination
Generally, employment discrimination may be categorized specifically on the type of determinant upon which the discrimination was based. Racial discrimination, as an example, is when the employee is discriminated based on his race, ethnicity, or national origin. Sexual discrimination is when an employee is discriminated either based upon the employee’s birth sex or the employee’s sexual orientation. Age discrimination occurs when the person is discriminated based upon his age, which usually occurs in older employees nearing the usual retirement age. Religious discrimination, on the other hand, is when the employee is discriminated based on his religious affiliation.
Examples of employment discrimination
One of the most common examples of employment discrimination occurs during the interview process. A prospective employee may be asked if she has children. Presumably, the employer would be looking for someone who does not have much responsibility at home so she can focus more on her work. Making fun of someone else’s accent may be considered as racial discrimination, especially if it is in the form of bullying. Sometimes, some of the types are mixed, as in the case of an elderly Native American being called as “Chief”—it can be seen as discrimination in both age and ethnic origin.
