Skip to ContentGo to accessibility page
OpenStax Logo
Introduction to Business

Critical Thinking Case

Introduction to BusinessCritical Thinking Case

Critical Thinking Case

Discrimination in the Workplace Continues

Although we live in enlightened times, a recent Gallup Poll found that 15 percent of American workers still experienced some form of workplace discrimination. The study was conducted to mark the anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the creation of the EEOC.

The poll found that the two most frequently cited types of discrimination are sexual discrimination (31 percent) and discrimination based on race or ethnicity (36 percent). Also mentioned were age, disability, sexual orientation, and religion. The work areas found to be most susceptible to discrimination are promotion and pay. Being selected for a job and treatment in the workplace were also cited. Wage discrimination and sexual harassment are two big battles women continue to fight. Both topics were in the headlines in 2017; one took center stage and the other was brushed under the covers (at least for now).

Thanks to Harvey Weinstein, the topic of sexual harassment was in the spotlight, setting off a tsunami as women around the world reacted with their #MeToo stories. As the movement progressed from Hollywood, to media companies, to Capitol Hill, and finally into corporate America, the topic had a platform. From the boardroom to the factory floor, women who had been sexually harassed shared their stories.

As companies rushed to put zero-tolerance policies into place and issue new training requirements, lawsuits and class-action cases were settled more quickly, some very publicly. In August 2017, the EEOC reached a $10 million settlement with Ford motor company for sexual and racial harassment at two Chicago plants.

In contrast, little was reported on the reversal of the new regulation designed to combat the wage gap between men and women. The revised EEO-1 would have gone into effect March 31, 2018, and required companies with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees to report W-2 wage information and total hours worked for all employees. The EEO-1 form already requires employers to report data on race/ethnicity and gender.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) initiated a review and immediate stay to the U.S. EEOC “in accordance with its authority under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA),” reversing the regulation that had been revised on September 29, 2016.

Pay equity advocates who had supported expanded pay-data reporting were critical of the suspension. “We see through the Trump administration’s call to halt the equal pay rule that requires employers to collect and submit pay data by gender, race, and ethnicity to the government,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center in Washington, D.C. “Make no mistake—it’s an all-out attack on equal pay. [It] sends a clear message to employers: if you want to ignore pay inequities and sweep them under the rug, this administration has your back.”

How important is equal pay? According to the analyses of the 2014–2016 Annual Social and Economic supplement published by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the United States economy would have produced additional income of $512.6 billion if women received equal pay; this represents 2.8 percent of 2016 gross domestic product (GDP).

In addition, poverty rates would drop from 10.8 percent to 4.4 percent, and the number of children with working mothers living in poverty would be nearly cut in half, dropping from 5.6 million to 3.1 million.

Critical Thinking Questions
  1. Why is workplace diversity so important in today’s business environment?
  2. What are the major sources of workplace discrimination? Cite specific examples from the case.
  3. What steps are companies taking to ensure that employees are not discriminated against?

Sources: Susan Chira and Catrin Einhorn, “How Tough Is It to Change a Culture of Harassment? Ask Women at Ford,” The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com, December 19, 2017; “Statement of Acting Chair Victoria A. Lipnic about OMB Decision on EEO-1 Pay Data Collection,” https://www.eeoc.gov, August 29, 2017; Stephen Miller, “White House Suspends Pay-Data Reporting on Revised EEO-1 Form,” https://www.shrm.org, August 31, 2017; Heidi Hartmann, Jeff Hayes, and Jennifer Clark, “How Equal Pay for Working Women Would Reduce Poverty and Grow the American Economy,” http://www.iwpr.org, January 13, 2014; “Gallup Poll on Employment Discrimination Shows Progress, Problems, 40 Years after Founding of EEOC” (press release), https://www.eeoc.gov, December 8, 2005.

PreviousNext
Order a print copy
Citation/Attribution
Reuse and redistribution of this content in digital or print format:
  • This book may not be used in the training of large language models or otherwise be ingested into large language models or generative AI offerings without OpenStax's prior written permission.
  • This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution License, which means that you can reuse and modify the material only for noncommercial purposes, must attribute OpenStax, and must distribute any derivative works under the same license.
  • Any commercial printing of this textbook, including using a local or custom printer, must be approved by OpenStax, and proper citation provided.
  • OpenStax-copyrighted images, activities, assessments, and similar components of this book are subject to the same licensing – CC-BY-NC-SA. They can be used for noncommercial purposes with attribution. Commercial use requires permission.
  • Permission requests: Anyone who intends to incorporate this content (including text, images, and other components) into large language models, use it in AI offerings, use it commercially (including in print), and/or has questions about another use case is welcome to complete our reuse request form.
Attribution information
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/introduction-business/pages/1-introduction

  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial digital format, then for every page that includes OpenStax content, you must license the derivative work under the same CC-BY-NC-SA license as the original, and include on every digital page view the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/introduction-business/pages/1-introduction

Citation information

The information below includes the information needed to generate citations in most major styles (APA, MLA, etc.); you must reformat and organize the information as needed to fit the requirements of the style. Use the information below to generate a citation. We recommend using a citation tool such as this one.

© Dec 18, 2024 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo, and Rice University name, and Rice University logo trademarks, or wordmarks are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.