According to both State
and Federal law, it is illegal to discriminate in the workplace on the
basis of someone's race; their ethnic or ancestry characteristics.
The EEOC,
U.S. Employment Opportunity Commission, enforces the laws for equal
employment opportunities. Two of the laws enforced by EEOC dealing
with race discrimination in the workplace are:
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964. This law makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color,
religion, sex or national origin in the workplace.
The Civil Rights Act of 1991. This law
allows people who have been discriminated against in the workplace to sue
for monetary compensation..
These laws and other laws
make it illegal to discriminate in many aspects of employment. Some
of these aspects include:
Any case of hiring or firing individuals.
On the basis of salary, benefits or disability
leave.
Harassment being used towards people
of different race, color, religion or sex.
On the basis of hours or vacations given.
On the basis of promotion or titles given
in the workplace.
A recent article was found in Human Resources
Magazine offers some facts about race discrimination. Some of these facts
included:
African Americans and Latinos make up
less than 2% of all executive positions in the United States. This is challenging
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which states that discrimination regarding job
titles is illegal in the workplace.
In 1999, for every dollar that a Caucasian
woman earned, an African American woman only earned 64 cents. This also goes
against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which states all wages should be equal
no matter what race you are.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, Caucasions are twice as likely as African Americans to be employed
in the workplace. This shows that employers may be hiring more Caucasions
than African Americans when giving out jobs.
In 1995, 89% of African Americans felt
they had to have better working skills to get ahead in the workplace. 30%
of Caucasians also felt this. African Americans have to raise their level
of training above Caucasians just to receive equal jobs.
In 1995, 59% of Caucasians stated that
everytime an African American lost their job, they would automatically file
a race discrimination charge. Caucasians felt that all African Americans are
abusing their privilages. However, looking at the other facts presented, one
can see that in most cases, the charge
of race discrimination is
probably true.
