When discrimination comes to mind, you may think that is always something like “I’m not hiring you because you are Black” or “You’re fired because you are too old.” But there’s a lot more to discrimination than actions taken against a particular individual because of protected characteristics such as race, age or sexual orientation.
In January 2021, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a report on systemic discrimination. What’s that? Broadly, systemic discrimination is a pattern, practice, or policy that results in or facilitates decisions that are discriminatory. It includes bias built into work systems, and “patterns of behavior that develop within organizations that disadvantage certain employees and become harmful to productivity.”
In announcing that systemic discrimination is now an enforcement priority, the EEOC gave examples of the practices and policies that might result in systemic discrimination. Here are some of them:
- Recruitment practices such as favoring or limited to word-of mouth
- Tap-on-the-shoulder promotion policies
- Job ads showing preference (“young”, “energetic”, “recent graduate”)
- Deference to customer preference
- Big data-using algorithm to sort through applications
- Personality or customer service tests; physical ability or capacity tests; cognitive tests
- Parental leave policies that do not give the same benefits for men and women
- “English- only” rules
- Mandatory retirement
- Light duty policies limited to work-related injuries
- 100% healed return to work requirements
- Pre-employment medical inquiries
And it’s not just the EEOC. For example, legislation has been introduced in New York City to regulate automated employment decision tools, such as algorithms that filter resumes or software that analyzes video interviews. The bill requires employers to tell candidates that such tools were used to assess their candidacy for employment, and the job qualifications or characteristics for which the tool was used to screen. The proposed legislation also mandates that companies that sell such tools must perform annual bias audits of their products to assess their compliance with discrimination laws.
What this means to you:
Managers learn about preventing discrimination and strategies for hiring the best in our Managing Within the Law webinar, just revised for 2021! Our web classes have all the advantages of classroom training – because they are live and instructor-led – without the cost, time, and travel. To find out more about our national HR training programs or to book a workshop, please call 800-458-2778 or email training@fairmeasures.com.
Updated 01-18-2021
Information here is correct at the time it is posted. Case decisions cited here may be reversed. Please do not rely on this information without consulting an attorney first.
