CHAPTER ELEVEN:

JOB
DISCRIMINATION
DISCRIMINATION

IT STOP WITH YOU.

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IF NOT YOU, THEN WHO?
anonymous

Chapter 11
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OVERVIEW
 Chapter Eleven examines the following topics:
(1) The meaning and forms of job discrimination.
(2) Statistical and attitudinal evidence of
discrimination.
(3) Historical and legal context of affirmative
action.
(4) Moral arguments for and against affirmative
action.
(5) Doctrine of comparable worth and controversy.
(6) The problem of sexual harassment.
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INTRODUCTION
 Job discrimination has many variations.
 Affirmative action has been one proposed
remedy for past discrimination.
 What moral arguments exist for and against
discrimination?
 What are the obligations of employers toward their
employees regarding discrimination issues?

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JOB DISCRIMINATION
 occurs when:
 An employment decision in some way harms or
disadvantages an employee or a job applicant.
 The decision is based on membership in a certain
group, rather than on individual merit.
 The decision rests on prejudice, false
stereotypes, or the assumption that the group in
question is in some way inferior and thus does
not deserve equal treatment.
Forms of discrimination:
1. individual or institutional,

2. intentional or unwitting.

Arguments against discrimination:

 It involves false assumptions about a group and
harms its members, so utilitarians would reject
it due to its ill effects on overall human welfare.
 Kantians would repudiate it as failing to respect
people as ends in themselves.
 Discrimination is also unjust.

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EVIDENCE OF
DISCRIMINATION
1. Statistical evidence: Studies reveal the
persistence of discrimination in American life.
 Research shows wide economic disparities
between whites and racial minorities.
 It shows significant occupational and income
differences seen in white males as compared
to women and minorities.
 Few women and minorities can be found at
the very top of the business world.
 2. Attitudinal evidence: Statistics alone do not
conclusively establish discrimination – other
elements may account for the disparities in
income and position between men and women
and between whites and other races.
 Widespread racist and sexist attitudes and biased
institutional practices and policies come into
play.
 Women and minorities often find themselves
measured by a “white male” value system.

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 LEGAL CONTENT

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6725

AN ACT STRENGTHENING THE

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PROHIBITION ON DISCRIMINATION
AGAINST WOMEN WITH RESPECT TO
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF
EMPLOYMENT, AMENDING FOR THE

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PURPOSE ARTICLE ONE HUNDRED
THIRTY-FIVE OF THE LABOR CODE, AS
AMENDED
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Republic Act No. 10911 (also known as the
“Anti-Age Discrimination in Employment Act”)
lapsed into law on July 21, 2016.

Senate Bill No. 1619- introduced by senator

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Joseph Victor G. Ejercito

An act prohibiting discrimination on the basis

of ethnicity, race, religion or belief, sex gender,

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sexual orientation, gender identity, gender
expression, civil and HIV status, and providing
penalties therefore.
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AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: THE
MORAL ISSUES
 Arguments for affirmative action:
(1)Compensatory justice demands affirmative
action programs.
Point: We have a moral obligation to redress past
injuries.
Counterpoint: People today can’t be expected to
atone for the sins of the past – and why should
today’s candidates receive any special
consideration?
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AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: THE
MORAL ISSUES
 Arguments for affirmative action:
(2) It is necessary to permit fairer competition.
Point: Taking race and sex into account makes job
competition fairer by keeping white men from
having an undeserved competitive edge.
Counterpoint: Employers have the right to seek
the best-qualified candidates without trying to
make life fair for everybody – and disadvantaged
whites are also out there.
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AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: THE
MORAL ISSUES
 Arguments for affirmative action:
(3) It is needed to break the cycle of minorities and
women locked in low-paying, low-prestige jobs.
Point: Even if racism and sexism ended, mere
nondiscrimination would need a century or more
for blacks and women to equalize their positions.
Counterpoint: Affirmative action has its costs –
making everyone racially conscious and causing
resentment and frustration.
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AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: THE
MORAL ISSUES
 Arguments against affirmative action:
(1)It injures white men and violates their rights.

Point: Such programs violate the right of white

men to be treated as individuals and to have
racial or sexual considerations not affect
employment decisions.
Counterpoint: The interests of white men have to
be balanced against society’s interest in
promoting these programs.
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AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: THE
MORAL ISSUES
 Arguments against affirmative action:
(2) Affirmative action itself violates the principle
of equality.
Point: If equality is the goal, it must be the means,
too. Such programs are based on the same
principle that encouraged past discrimination.
Counterpoint: We can’t wish the reality of
discrimination away by pretending the world is
colorblind, when it is not.
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AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: THE
MORAL ISSUES
Arguments against affirmative action:
(3) Nondiscrimination alone will achieve our
social goals; stronger affirmative action is
unnecessary.
Point: The 1964 Civil Rights Act already outlaws
job discrimination, many discrimination cases
have been won before the EEOC or in court. So
we only need to insist on rigorous enforcement
of the law.
Counterpoint: The absence of vigorous
affirmative action programs halts progress.
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COMPARABLE WORTH
 It says that women and men should be paid on
the same scale – not only for doing the same or
equivalent jobs, but also for doing different jobs
involving equal skill, effort, and responsibility.

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COMPARABLE WORTH
 Advocates point to statistics showing that
women are in more low-paying jobs than men –
and that the more women dominate an
occupation, the less it pays.
 Some say monetary reparations (retroactive
payment adjustments) are due to for past work.
 They believe that paying women equally for a
job of equal worth is a matter of social justice.
 Opponents say that women have freely chosen
lower-paying occupations.
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SEXUAL HARASSMENT
“Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors,
and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature
constitute sexual harassment when (1) submission to
such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a
term or condition of an individual’s employment, (2)
submission to or rejection of such conduct by an
individual is used as the basis for employment decisions
affecting such individual, or (3) such conduct has the
purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an
individual’s work performance or creating an
intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.”

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TWO FORMS OF SEXUAL HARRASMENT
(1)Quid pro quo harassment occurs when a
supervisor makes an employee’s job
opportunities conditional on the employee’s
entering into a sexual relationship with, or
granting sexual favors to, the supervisor.
(2)Hostile working environment is behavior of a
sexual nature that is distressing to workers
(often, but not exclusively, women) and
interferes with their ability to perform on the job.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
 The view of the law courts: In sexual
harassment cases, the courts look to what a
reasonable person would find offensive.
 But what matters morally is to respect each
person’s choices and wishes.

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DEALING WITH SEXUAL
HARASSMENT
 An employee encountering sexual harassment
should:
(1) Make it clear that the behavior is unwanted.
(2) If the behavior persists, document it by keeping
a record of what has occurred, who was
involved, and when it happened.
(3) Complain to the appropriate supervisor.
(4) If internal complaints prove ineffective,
consider seeing a lawyer and learning in detail
what legal options are available.
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