Ch03

Fundamentals of Human Resource Management 8e, DeCenzo and Robbins
Chapter 3
Equal Opportunity Employment
Fundamentals of Human
Resource Management
Eighth Edition
DeCenzo and Robbins

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

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.

• 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

• 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

• 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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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
• 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
• 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
• Geographical Comparisons
Characteristics of the qualified
pool of potential applicants
are compared to
characteristics of employees

Guarding Against
• 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

• Business Necessity
– the right to expect
employees to perform
successfully
– shown by demonstrating
that selection criteria
are job-related

• 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

• 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

Court Cases
• Cases concerning discrimination
– 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.

Court Cases
• Cases concerning reverse
discrimination
– 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.

Court Cases
• Firefighter Local 1784 v. Stotts (1984)
& 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

Opportunity
1. EEOC notifies company within 10 days of
filing and begins investigation
2. EEOC notifies company of findings within
120 days
3. If unfounded, process stops
If founded, EEOC tries to resolve
1. If unsuccessful, EEOC begins mediation
(settlement meeting)
2. If unsuccessful, EEOC may file charges in
court

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 in a Global Environment
• Laws affecting Human
Resource 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.

Law
• Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson Supreme
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.

Law
• Are Women Reaching the Top of
Organizations?
– Comparable worth - determining fair pay for both
female-oriented jobs and male-oriented jobs
based on comparable skill, effort, and
responsibility.
– Glass ceiling - lack of women and minority
representation at the top levels of organizations.
– OFCCP has glass ceiling initiative.
• Promotes career development
for women and minorities.
• Looks for such in its audits.

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