Chapter 2 HRM

Managing Equal Opportunity
and Diversity
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-1

1. Summarize the basic equal employment
opportunity laws and how each impacts HR
functions such as recruitment and selection.
2. Explain the basic defenses against
discrimination allegations.
3. Give examples of what employers can and
cannot legally do with respect to recruitment,
selection, and promotion and layoff
practices.

4. Explain the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission enforcement
process.
5. List five strategies for successfully
increasing diversity of the workforce.

Summarize the basic
equal opportunity laws
and how each impacts
HR functions such as
recruitment and
selection
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 is the act requiring
equal pay for equal work, regardless of sex
. This law made it unlawful to discriminate in

pay based on sex when jobs involve equal
work—equivalent skills, effort, and
responsibility—and are performed under similar
working conditions.

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 is the act requiring
equal pay for equal work, regardless of sex
. This law made it unlawful to discriminate in

pay based on sex when jobs involve equal
work—equivalent skills, effort, and
responsibility—and are performed under similar
working conditions.

• Qualified Individuals
• Reasonable
Accommodation
• Employer Defenses

• Griggs v. Duke Power Company
• Albemarle Paper Company v. Moody

• Religious Discrimination
o Buddhism
o Christianity
o Hinduism
o Islam
o Judaism
o Sikhism
o Other
• Sexual Orientation
o Lesbian
o Gay
o Bisexual
o Transgender
Sexual harassment is harassment on the basis of sex that has the purpose
or effect of substantially interfering with a person’s work performance or
creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.
Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for

sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that
takes place under any of the following conditions:
• Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term
or condition of an individual’s employment.
• Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as
the basis for employment decisions affecting such individuals.
• Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with
an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or
offensive work environment.

There are three main ways someone can prove sexual harassment.
• Quid pro quo.
The most direct is to prove that rejecting a supervisor’s advances adversely
affected what the EEOC calls a “tangible employment action” such as hiring,
firing, promotion, demotion, and/or work assignment.
• Hostile work environment caused by supervisors.
One need not show that the harassment had tangible consequences such as
demotion. One example is that an employee felt like her emotional and
psychological ability was so affected that the only way to get relief was to quit
her job.
• Hostile environment caused by coworkers or nonemployees.
The questionable behavior doesn’t have to come from the person’s supervisor.
For example, one court held that a mandatory sexually provocative uniform led
to lewd comments by customers.
When is the environment hostile? Hostile environments in sexual harassment

situations generally means that the intimidation, insults, and ridicule were
sufficiently severe to alter the working conditions. Frequent and severe are the
key conditions. Additionally, the sense of physically threatening or humiliating
are also conditions as well as the perceived feelings of all of the above.
Supreme Court Decisions
Implications
Prompt & Reasonable Care
Gender-Based Differences
Not Reporting

1. File a verbal contemporaneous complaint with
the harasser and the harasser’s boss, stating
that the unwanted overtures should cease.
2. If the unwelcome conduct does not cease, file
verbal and written reports to HR.
3. If the letters and appeals to the employer do not
suffice, the accuser should turn to the EEOC.

• Social Media
• Same-Sex Marriages
• Disabled Workers
• Affirmative Action
• Retaliation

• Adverse Impact is the overall impact of employer practices that result in significantly higher percentages
of members of minorities and other protected groups being rejected for employment, placement, or
promotion.
• Discrimination law distinguishes between disparate treatment and disparate impact.
• Disparate treatment means intentional discrimination. It “requires no more than a finding that women (or
protected minority groups)” were intentionally treated differently because they were members of a
particular race, religion, gender, or ethnic group.
• Disparate impact means that “an employer engages in an employment practice or policy that has a greater
adverse impact (effect) on the members of a protected group under Title VII than on other employees,
regardless of intent.” A rule that says “employees must have college degrees to do a job exemplifies this.
• Showing adverse impact therefore plays a central role in discrimination practice allegations. Employers
may not institute an employment practice that has an adverse impact on a particular class of people unless
they can show that the practice is job related and necessary.

• Disparate Rejection Rates
• The Standard Deviation Rule
• Restricted Policy
• Population Comparison

• Disparate rejection rates are shown by comparing rejection rates for a minority
group and another group. Federal agencies use a 4/5ths rule to assess
disparate rejection rates. A selection rate for any racial, ethnic, or sex group
which is less than the 4/5ths rule or 80% of the rate for the group with the
highest rate will generally be regarded as evidence of adverse impact, while a
greater than 4/5ths rate will generally not be regarded as evidence of adverse
impact.
• Similarly, courts may use the standard deviation rule to confirm adverse impact.
The standard deviation rule refers to the difference between the numbers of
minority candidates we would have expected to hire versus those we actually
hired. The difference should be less than two standard deviations.
• A restricted policy means that an employer’s policies excluded members of a

protected group such as women and minorities.
• Population comparisons approach 1) the percentage of minority/protected

group and white workers in the organization with 2) the percentage of the
corresponding group in the labor market. The EEOC usually defines labor
market of the U.S. Census data for that Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area.

1. That person belongs to a protected class
2. Candidate was qualified for job he/she sought
3. Despite qualifications, candidate was rejected
4. After rejection, position remained open and

employer was actively recruiting for vacant position

• Defense created by courts
• Not easy to prove
• Many employers have used business
necessity defense successfully
• Courts scrutinize pre-employment
standards

• Recruitment
o Word of Mouth
o Misleading Information
o Help Wanted Ads
• Selection Standards
o Education Requirements
o Tests
o Preference to Relatives
o Height, Weight, and Physical Characteristics
o Health Questions
o Arrest Records
o Application Forms

Processing a Discrimination Charge
Filing a claim
EEOC investigation
Voluntary mediation

• Diversity is having a workforce comprising of two or more groups of
employees with various racial, ethnic, gender, cultural, national origin,
handicap, age, and religious backgrounds.
• Diversity can produce behavioral barriers that undermine work team
collegiality and cooperation. Understanding the underlying reasons for
not having a diverse environment may be stemming from the following
behaviors of employees within the environment. These behaviors must
be identified and eliminated (employing those that are open to diverse
work environments) and the work environment must be trained. For
example:
1)Stereotyping is a process in which someone ascribes specific behavioral
traits to individuals based on their apparent membership in a group.
2)Prejudice means bias toward prejudging someone based on that
person’s traits.
3)Discrimination is prejudice in action. This would also include gender-role
stereotypes (tendency to associate women with certain jobs).
4)Tokenism occurs when a company appoints a small group of women or
minorities to high-profile positions, rather than more aggressively
seeking full representation for that group.
5)Ethnocentrism is the tendency to view members of other social groups
less favorably than one’s own.
• Provide strong leadership
• Assess the situation
• Provide diversity training & education
• Change culture and management systems
• Evaluate the diversity management program

• Equal Employment Opportunity versus
Affirmative Action
• Reverse Discrimination

Chapter 2 HRM

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Chapter 2 HRM

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Managing Equal Opportunity

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-1

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-2

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. This law made it unlawful to discriminate in

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-5

. This law made it unlawful to discriminate in

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-6

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-7

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-11

Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-13

When is the environment hostile? Hostile environments in sexual harassment

Prompt & Reasonable Care

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-15

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-16

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-17

• Discrimination law distinguishes between disparate treatment and disparate impact.

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-20

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-21

• A restricted policy means that an employer’s policies excluded members of a

• Population comparisons approach 1) the percentage of minority/protected

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-22

2. Candidate was qualified for job he/she sought

3. Despite qualifications, candidate was rejected

4. After rejection, position remained open and

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-23

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-25

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-27

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-29

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-35

Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd. 2-36

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