Andary 1

Tyler Andary

Mr Dunham

English 1201

24 March 2021

How does Discrimination Affect the People in the Workplace?

Today more than ever discrimination is a relevant and everyday issue. The question at

hand is how does discrimination affect the people in the workplace. As the country becomes

more separated due to racial divide, it's needed to look at how people of different races, ages and

genders are affected due to the prejudice they face in the everyday work environment. To fully

understand how prejudice affects the workplace it is important to understand exactly what

workplace discordimination is, who it affects, how it can affect the discriminated, and historical

cases that have occurred throughout time. Discrimination has been issue in the world since

ancient times. More now than ever, discrimination is a prevalent issue in the media. With more

and more people talking about their experiences about harassment and workplace bigotry it's

become a staple issue. Workplace discrimination can lead to depression, alcoholism, use of

tobacco and possibly suicide.

All throughout time dicrimination has been relevant in history from slavery in ancient

time, with the Hebrews in Egypt and Jim Crow laws in America. Even though that work place

discrimination has been around for generations its now become a staple issue in the world

because of socal media and social movements.One of the most current and relevant lawsuits if

from the 2020 Babb v. Wilkie. The case circled around VA employees that were discriminated

against by VA secretary Wilkie due to the employees Gender and Age.

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Before you can fully understand what workplace discrimination is, you must know the

basics. The EEOC states that discriminaton in the workplace is “when an employee or job

candidate is treated unfavorably because of age, disability, genetic information, national origin,

pregnancy, race or skin color, religion, or sex”. This means everyone should receive equal rights,

opportunities and the same access to everything as their co-workers and bosses, but of course

people tend not to care or accidentally overstep their boundaries. Examples can range from

denying employees from proper compensations or benefits or denying and impeding the use of

company space(EEOC). In 2020, there will be a new light in the issue facing the working

LGBTQ community. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld that an ‘‘employer who fires an individual

merely for being gay or transgender violates Title VII’ of the Civil Right Act. Before the

decision, LGBTQ workers were only protected from employment discrimination in less than half

of the states (Doyle) .There are many different forms of workplace discriminatoin. The U.S. The

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lists 12 different forms of discimination. The

forms of discrimination range from age and pay to national origin, pregnancy and sexual

harassment” (EECO).

In a research study from 2015 by the University of Beijing,

China; a study of 1,138 workers was conducted to see who has been

discriminated against or victimized. Of 1,1138 people, 522 (261 males

and 261 females) surveyees have claimed to be victims of intolerance.

The ages most mistreated were the ages ranging from <30 and 30-40

year making up ≈ 45% of all who surveyed (Zhang). A separate survey

by the University of Beijing, China also asked 351 participants why

they feel that they’ve been discriminated against. The number one
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answer given was age (28.2 % / 99 participants) the second most given

answer was gender (18.5%/ 65 participants) (Zhang). In the United

States, a survey of 420 workers over the age of 50 was conducted and

81% of workers claimed to have been victims of disciminatoin based

on ages at least once in a year (Choi & Chou). Many believe the

numbers of people who have been discriminated against have been

higher than actually reported due to either fear of reproduction or

just pride.

Something people do but do not think about is unconscious bias. The University of

Vanderbilt defines unconscious bias as “prejudice or unsupported judgments in favor of or

against one thing, person, or group as compared to another, in a way that is usually considered

unfair.”. Unconscious bias is believed to be stemmed from experience in the past or a person's

background. Unconscious biases are mainly presented toward minority groups. This is mainly

based on factors such as the person's class, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, nationality,

religious beliefs, age, disability and more.”(Vanderbilt University). The media can be a factor of

unconscious bias. An example of this can be as simple as people posting their political viewpoint

on social media. Another example is walking faster if a person of color is behind or if you turn

around when you see a cop. It's not because you’re consciously a racist or a criminal, it's because

it's something you’ve been told/ taught by people since you were younger. Bosses and executives

hiring are more likely to hire a white male with the same educational background as a woman of

color because it's normal to them. Unconscious bias is also known as social stereotypes. It can

explain why when you think of a certain race or ethnicity a certain way. Ways to overcome bias

are to learn about unconscious bias, listen to stories from people who have faced adversity,
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Avoid Stereotyping people and Generalizing, have a more diverse group of people to be around

and self reflect to find your personal bias.. (Vanderbilt University). Unconscious bias isn't

completely harmless by any means, people can be hurt physically and mentally. It can lead to

people or groups being bullied in the workplace for race, sex, gender, looks, ect. This can lead to

depression or possibly worse. There have been cases in the past where people have died in the

past due to bias that was unconscious. In the past several years there has been a high number of

people of color being shot and killed by white cops. This is thought to be because of a deep

rooted bias caused by either areas the police officers grew up in or what they were taught.

One issue facing most to all women is the pay difference from their male counterparts.

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was the stepping stone for women and men to be treated and paid

equally. The national pay average per week of male was $860 USD while their female

counterparts was $704 USD (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). As a record 37 women are heads

of Fortune 500 companies, this political and social debate is more publicised. In 2018, women

have earned 15% less of what their male counterparts have earned. Based on the average hourly

earnings of full time and part time workers in the USA, women would have to work an extra 39

days to earn what men did in 2018 (Graf). After a report by the U.S. Government, the female to

male earnings ratio was 80%.The median of a full time working male was $52,146 USD, while

the women only made $41,977 USD (United States Census Bureau). It has also been proved that

a full time working 20 year old woman will lose around $407,760 USD over a 40-year career

compared to male working the same job. (Graf). There is not a definite reason for why the pay

gap between the 2 sexs are extremely different. Many researchers have tried to figure out the

reasons for the gender pay gap. There are theories of why women haven't been able to reach

senior positions. Women have struggled with getting higher ranked jobs for many, many years.
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Some reasons for this include: money, education, and most importantly, the gender stereotypes

that go on in the workplace. Simply stating there can be many reasons why there is a pay gap but

there isn't a definite reason. If you look at all 60 athletes on the Forbes Highest-Paid Athletes in

The World List you’ll find 58 men and 2 women. If you compare the top 5 earning athletes

:Roger Federer, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Lebron James. The 5 men earn a

combined 499 million dollars through salary and endorsements, an average of 99.8 million each.

It's not until the 29th place on the list until you find a female (Naomi Osaka). The highest paid

females on the list were Naomi Osaka and Serena William, that all. The two female tennis stars

combined for an impressive 73.4 Million dollars, an average of 36.7 million each. The 5 top

earning men earn on average more than 63 million dollars than their female counterparts

(Forbes). Athlete discrimination was also prevelant in the 2021 March Madness. In the 2021

NCAA Women's March Madness bubble, pictures emerged of the women's weight and workout

area. The female athletes were confined to having a single rack of dumbbells compared to the

males who had everything from benches, racks, bars and free weights. The NCAA said it was

due to the amount of space but the female athletes showed photographs of a large amount of

space unused. Title 9 was introduced in 1964 and states that colleges may not discriminate

against athletes due the gender of the athletes (NCAA). The NCAA shortly fixed their error and

put in a brand new weight room after the outcry by politicians, athletes and the general public.

Many people who are discriminated against want to express how they feel but don't know

how to. In an interview with Dean Reynold, a store manager, he gave a first hand account of

what it was like to be targeted because of his race and age:

“It's hard to be a man of color in an industry run by a majority of white superiors. I

became a manager when I turned 24, I'm 33 now. I’ve seen many less qualified people
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get higher and better jobs over me and they've all been the same type of people. Before

working here, I worked at best buy. I could tell people were hesitant to walk up to me and

ask for my help. That stuff hurts, I've had issues with trying to figure out what to do

about it. I’ve caught myself drinking because when I get home I would just be upset and

anxious. I'm okay now but it's just not something a lot of people think about. Finally I

went to human resources and told them how I felt and filed a complaint. After a certain

amount of weeks I was able to talk to people higher up in the company to try to smooth

everything out .”
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Dean is just one of hundreds of thousands of people who have filed a workplace disciminaton

complaint. From 1997 to 2018; 1,889,631 workers filed discrimination complaints with the

EEOC. In 2017, most of the complaints were categorized as retaliation, race, disability, or sex

related.(EOC). The graph above shows the employment discrimination complaint report over

20 years. The biggest reported issue was color and race, at 35.7% and it hit a high of 38,753

thousand complaints in 2010. While the least complained about issue was equal pay complaints
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which only made up 1.1% of people and had a high of 1,132 people in 2000. Over the 20 years

there was close to 2 million reported complaints.

Workplace discriminaton can be harmful to everyone around. Bullying and harassment

can cause negative effects on someone's physical and mental health. Employees that have

experienced racial adversity have reported higher levels of emotional suffering and health-related

problems than employees who hasn't faced adversity. (Etheridge). It also shows that bullying and
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harassment can lead to harmful copping, such as alcohol, drugs and tobacco. Neslie A.

Etheridge, a U.S. Army EEOC office states that:

“...Sexual harassment and workplace bullying (hostile work environment) can lead to

heavy alcohol use as a means for the employee to cope with the situation at work. Some

of the physical effects include aches and pains, an increase in cardiovascular illness,

breast cancer, obesity and high blood pressure most likely related to the impact of the

stress. Effects are not limited to physical but also mental effects on the employee include

depression, developing anxiety disorders, loss of self control leading to the employee

becoming hostile or even attempting suicide.” (Etheridge).

Suicide being the most frightening possiblity, has been on a rise. In 2018, it was reported 304

workplace suicides took place.(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), while higher pressure jobs as

military and first responders are responsible for the highest sucide rate.

Workplace bullying is one of the most cited and common issues in the workplace. The

Workplace Bullying Institute put out a survey in 2017 and they found out 40% of all American

have been affected by workplace bullying, that's 60.4 million Americans. Studies have shown

that health sector employees (such as doctors, nurses, helpers, and lab tech) are some of the most

at risk groups to be exposed to psychosocial risk at work; 65% of all medical workers in the USA

have observed lateral violence within peers. (Bruk‐Lee & Heron) Even though our nurses and

doctors are some of the most important workers we have they still go through the harassment and

everyday bullying that leads to them potentially messing up and causing harm to themselves and

potentially patients. Accidents and injuries that occur among nursing professionals include

exhaustion, tripping/falling, violence, and possible exposure to harmful materials. The possibly

sustained injuries can lead to employees not showing up to work and using sick or vacation days.
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(OSHA). When incidents as the ones previously mentioned occur, it's hard not to worry about the

mental and physical health of the essential frontline workers, as they are not able to perform due

to harassment and misconduct.

To help understand workplace discriminaton it helps to look into pior cases of it

occurring. Two of the most recent examples are Bostock v. Clayton County and Babb v. Wilkie.

In the case of Bostock v. Clayton County, a homosexual male named Gerald Bostock was fired

due to sexual orentaion. Bostock was regarded as a good worker and received awards for his

work as a child welfare services coordinator, until he started participating in a gay recreation

softball league. After several months of participating in the softball league his supervisor made

comments to him about being gay and the softball league. Several weeks after this occurred he

was fired for “ conduct unbecoming of its employees.”. In 2016, Bostock then filed a lawsuit

against the county stating it violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Finally the case

made it to the supreme court and passed a 6-3 count, in favor of Bostock. (Supreme Court). The

other landmark case was already briefly talked about. Babb v. Wilkie was a case involving Noris

Babb and the Secretary of Veteran Affairs, Robert Wilkie. Mrs Babb was a pharmacist at the Bay

Pines VA in Florida, who helped develop important software for older veterans with disabilities

or diseases. The case actually starts when 2 unnamed pharmacists who were both highly

decorated and recommended by human resources but were both 50+. The two pharamarist

applications were passed up for 2 less desirable workers who were both younger than 40. Babbs

then would go on to provide statements for the Equal Employment Opportunity claims. Later on

Babbs would be rejected from projects and was forced into agreeing to a work schedule she

wasn't able to perform. She was then demoted and replaced by a 30 year old pharmacist with less

clearance then she had. Babb then went to the court claiming “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
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of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967”(Supreme Court) where

enfringed on. She would then go and win the suit 8-1.

Some of the most discriminated people that never get the chance to work are felons. By

definition a felony is a crime involving violence,making it more serious than a misdemeanor.

Therefore a felon is someone who commited a felony. The states do not all classify felonies the

same way. In the state of Indiana there are 6 levels of felonies while in Kentucky they label them

A-D. There is also not a set crime per state that classifies as a felony. In the State of Alabama

it's illegal to purchase, possess, or train a bear for the purpose of bear wrestling where in

Michigan, committing adultery is a felony. Of course there are serious felonies such as grand

theft auto,murder, kidknaping and rap. People who have committed a felony and have been

released have trouble finding jobs because of their background. Some businesses don't hire

because it's a “Risk” to hire someone who has been charged with a crime. Certain career paths

are automatically not a possibility due state laws. Educational jobs, Government and liscenting

jobs, health care jobs are all off limits. In an Interview with Mike Andary, a master plumber in

Ohio, he says

“Many people don't hire felons due to insurance cost, no one wanted to put that much

money or faith in a person with a background. In my old union they didn't hire felons,

and most companies who hire felons can only make them work in empty buildings or

outside. So in some places it pointless to hire someone who can only work ⅓ of the time.

I have worked with people with criminal background and there some of the best people

i’ve worked with and do really good jobs, but can only be there for a couple hours at a

time ”
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The Prison Policy Initiative has created an estimate of 5 million formerly incarcerated people

living in the United States are unemployed. Their estimate shows that formerly incarcerated

people have an unemployed rate of over 27% , that's higher than the total U.S. unemployment

rate during any recession and even the Great Depression. (PPI). This is due to the general

distrust and unconscious bias that people have to former inmates and the stigma around them.

This leads them going back to jail or becoming dependent on others.

In conclusion Discrimination can affect people in the workplace in a very negative way .

It's possible that people can be negatively affected in a mental and physical way. People can

attempt to cope with their issues by the use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco. It can become servere

enought to cause depreesion and possibly suicide. It has been showed that there many different

forms of discrimination, that even female atheletes are underpaid, why people have prejudice

ways, and how unconscious bias can affect people. Discrimination has been issue in the world

since ancient times. More now than ever, discrimination is a prevalent issue in the media. With

more and more people talking about their experiences about harassment and workplace bigotry

it's become a staple issue. Workplace discrimination can lead to depression, alcoholism, use of

tobacco and possibly suicide.

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Work Cited

"Bostock v. Clayton County." Oyez, www.oyez.org/cases/2019/17-1618. 2019.

Chou, Rita Jing-Ann, and Namkee G. Choi. “Prevalence and Correlates of Perceived

Workplace Discrimination among Older Workers in the United States of America.”

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Couloute, Lucius & Kofi, Dan. Out of Prison & out of Work. 2018,

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2020, www.forbes.com/athletes/#27de283c55ae.
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