Chapter 7: The Ethics

of Job Discrimination
 Learning Objectives:
• Describe the legal climate and key legal
decisions that have affected how discrimination in
the workplace is viewed.
• Analyze the nature of Job Discrimination base on
study of intentional, unintentional, individual and
institutional forms
• Outline the extent of employment discrimination
by making comparisons among groups
• Analyze discrimination using utilitarian, rights-
based, and justice-based arguments
• Examine the policy of affirmative action from
practical, legal, and moral points of view

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1. Discrimination
-Is the wrongful act of distinguishing illicitly
among people not on the basis of individual merit,
but on the basis of prejudice or some other
invidious or morally reprehensible attitude.

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Glass Ceiling is a
barrier transparent yet
so strong that it Job Discrimination
in the Philippines
prevents women from
moving up the
corporate hierarchy.

◎ Age Discrimination
◎ Disability Discrimination
◎ Sexual Orientation
◎ Status as a Parent
Affirmative Action refers to any policy that's ◎ Religious Discrimination
intended to promote opportunities for ◎ National Origin
members of historically disadvantaged
groups, for example, job applicants with ◎ Pregnancy
disabilities and candidates of color. –
◎ Sexual Harassment
-The aim is to level the playing field, ◎ Race, Color, and Sex
especially in the areas of employment,
business and education. ◎ Reprisal / Retaliation
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 Affirmative Action
◎ The origins of the term come from President Kennedy's 1961
executive order on equal employment opportunity.
◎ Forbids employers to discriminate against individuals because of
their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in decisions regarding
hiring, firing, compensation or other forms of employment.
◎ The idea behind Affirmative Action requirements is that, by
promoting interactions across people of different groups,
stereotypes against minority groups will decrease, and thus, in the
long run, so will discrimination.

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Affirmative Action
◎ Several companies have implemented affirmative
action policies as part of their business models. But
the practice is controversial, with some
commentators claiming that it's really just
discrimination in reverse.

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Policy of Affirmative Action
◎ LEGAL ASPECT OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
◎ Affirmative action is legal when used to correct a racial
or sexual imbalance that is the result of previous
discrimination, or to correct an egregious, persistent and
manifest racial imbalance
◎ Affirmative action cannot overrule seniority and cannot
be used in government set-aside programs except as a
last resort in an extreme case involving previous racial
bias by the government.
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Policy of Affirmative Action
◎ Societal Aspects of Affirmative Action
◎ Affirmative action/programs are used to protect and
give equal opportunities to underrepresented.

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Policy of Affirmative Action

◎ Compensation Arguments for Affirmative Action

◎ Affirmative action is based on the concept of
compensatory justice.
◎ Compensatory justice implies that people have an
obligation to compensate those whom they have
intentionally and unjustly wronged.
◎ Preferential treatment provides compensation.

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 Policy of Affirmative Action

◎ Utilitarian Argument for Affirmative Action

◎ Utilitarians have claimed that affirmative action
programs are justified because such programs promote
the public welfare.
◎ It claims affirmative action reduces need by benefiting
minorities and women in need, and so increases utility.

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Policy of Affirmative Action

◎ Equal Justice Argument for Affirmative Action

◎ It claims affirmative action will secure equal opportunity
by a fairer distribution of jobs, by neutralizing the effects
of unconscious bias that affects judgements about
minorities and women, and by placing women and
minorities in less disadvantaged and more competitive
positions in competitions with males.
◎ It claims affirmative action is morally legitimate means
for securing equal opportunity.
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 “
Why is Discrimination
morally wrong?

Discrimination is not morally

neutral
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 Forms of
Discrimination
Intentional; Unintentional; Individual;
Institutional

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Forms of Discrimination
Intentional Discrimination
-Is conscious and deliberate
discrimination.
Unintentional Discrimination
-Discrimination that is not
consciously or deliberately
sought, but is brought about by
stereotypes or as an unintended
outcome.
Individual Discrimination
-Is the discrimination of one
or a few individuals acting on
their own.
Institutional Discrimination
-Is discrimination that is the result
of the actions of all or many of
the people in an institution and of
their routine processes and
policies.
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 Extent of
Discrimination

A PRIMA FACIE indication of

discrimination exists when a
disproportionate number of the
members of a certain group are
in the less desirable positions
within the institution, despite
their preferences and abilities.

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 Desirable Occupation Comparison

Women
-Secretary Men
-Teacher -Mechanics
-Receptionist -Electrical power-
-Dental Assistants line workers
-Child-care -Crane operators
workers -Engineer
-Hairdresser
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Thank You!

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