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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Hiring Discrimination
Employment discrimination occurs when a person is discriminated during a common employment process such as hiring, promotion, job assignment, among others, based on his race, gender, religion, physical or mental disability, physical appearance, and age, among others. Employment discrimination is illegal and not tolerated in many countries. Though various forms of discrimination may also occur during employment, some of the more prevalent forms of employment discrimination happen during the recruitment process. Many prospective employees everywhere are often denied the job post because of employment discrimination.
Common examples
Hiring discrimination may start even during the advertisement of the job opening. Posts specifying the age or the gender of the prospective employee already illustrate discrimination to those who will not qualify under those specifications. Hiring discrimination would also be apparent during the interview process, where the employer or the interviewer can find out things about the prospective employee that was not shown on his credentials. For example, when asked where an applicant was born, it can be presumed that the interviewer is looking for the national origin of the applicant. Asking for medical conditions, if not necessary for the occupation applied for, is also prohibited, for they can be considered as confidential information. One of the most common discriminating questions during the interview is when the interviewer asks the lady applicant if she plans to get pregnant soon. The interviewer may be trying to avoid hiring an applicant who will soon ask for a maternity leave.
Dealing with hiring discrimination
The first thing to do is to know your rights and practice them. With that, you can easily recognize and fight discrimination when you see it. For example, during an interview, if you feel that the interviewer is asking a discriminatory question, you can ask him why he’s asking such question, or you can politely remind him that the question is discriminating for you. If discrimination was inevitably incurred, you can consult a legal expert on how you can retaliate, for discrimination, in all its forms, is unconstitutional.
