Have you ever been treated or looked at differently because of your race, gender, religion, social rank or any other attribute? If you did, then you must have experienced one type of discrimination. So, what do we mean by discrimination? In general, discrimination is the judgment of qualities and recognition of the differences between things, and it comes in different forms and frames. At” workplace discrimination occurs when an employee suffers from unfavorable or unfair treatment due to their race, religion, national origin, disabled or veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Employees who have suffered reprisals for opposing workplace discrimination or for reporting violations to the authorities are also considered to be discriminated against”(Allbusiness, 2010:1). Many countries, in particular the modern and developed ones, issued decrees and laws that prohibits discrimination in work-related areas, such as recruiting, hiring, job evaluations, promotion policies, training, compensation and disciplinary action
Direct vs. Indirect
Workplace discrimination can be characterized as direct or Indirect. Direct discrimination involves treating someone less favorably because of their possession of an attribute (e.g., gender, age, race, beliefs, socio-economical status, national origin, disability, etc…), compared with someone without that attribute in the same circumstances. An example of direct discrimination would be not offering a job to a woman because she is likely to take maternity leave whereas a man is not. Indirect discrimination involves setting a condition or requirement which a smaller proportion of those with the attribute are able to comply with, without reasonable justification.
Types of workplace Discrimination
As mentioned earlier, workplace discrimination happens when some employee suffers unjust treatment, perception of or even interaction with, due to the fact of a physical attribute of the offended