There were many concepts that I’ve learned about or already knew about and my professor Pamela went more in-depth with each one of them. However, one concept that I found fascinating was the legal contexts of Employee discrimination. This broad topic was discussed in my “Human Resource Management class” which is significant for every employee to know about with any company there are working for. There are many Acts that protect all employees in many ways. The ones we mainly discussed were Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, Equal Pay Act, Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, Americans with Disabilities Act and Family and Medical Leave Act. Especially for myself to be knowledgeable about these acts now and for my future to be either in a managerial position or in any Human Resource position.
Each Act has its main legal point it is mandated to protect each employee in any company and they should be aware of. Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin and is led to the empowerment of Equal Employment Opportunity. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 prohibits arbitrary age discrimination, protects employees 40 years of age and older to be able to get hired, promoted, discharged and any privileges of employment. This act is specifically for companies and organization with 20 or more employees. Equal Pay Act of 1963 is intended to eliminate the practice of paying lower wages to women. Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 is companies may not terminate a female employee for being pregnant, refuse to make an employment decision based on pregnancy and deny insurance coverage. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 protects employers with fifteen and more employees, extends employment protection for qualified disability status, reasonable accommodations, and eliminates pre-conditional job offer medical exams. Lastly, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 covers companies with fifty or more employees, job protection, and continuation of the employer in sponsored health insurance.
An article that mainly stood out to me that supports the Employment Acts is Women’s Equality Day is Aug.26 by Rena Gorlin, which includes the Equal Employment Opportunity Act and tides in with the Equal Pay Act. Throughout the workforce history, there was a barrier for women to have the right to earn a living which they rarely had access to the same jobs as men and gender equality. Although the Equal Employment Opportunity Act benefits everyone in the workforce there has still been some inequality amongst men and women and Human Resources is willing to make some adjustments. In the article, Women’s Equality Day is Aug.26, although this day is to recognize females in the workplace it’s also for equality has a whole. The Forbes article mentions the importance of Women’s Equality Day noted that “Equality is not a female issue, it’s a social and economic imperative.” American women are taking over the workforce and many have their own business as well. The Department of Labor states, “Women make up almost 47 percent of U.S workers; women own nearly 10 million businesses; 70 percent of mothers with minor-aged children work; women’s participation in the labor force has grown from 33 percent (in 1948) to 57 percent (in 2016)”. Although females have been working in female-dominated occupations which are 39 percent, women still are considered belittled in occupations such as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) occupations and many others as well (shrm.org). This article made me realize that there are some occupations many women find themselves not having the same opportunity and ability to receive promotions than their colleagues that are males. Women end up realizing they must succeed ten times harder than males to be in a higher rank in their occupation. If it’s like this now I wonder how situations in the workforce will be when I join my occupation. Although I know to have a leadership role in my occupation you will need the experience and many more but however in any occupation in order to get to the top it is never easy to get there automatically.
I remember one of my professors for my hospitality class at city tech (forgot which one it was exactly but it was an intro course). She shared stories about working in the kitchen and it being a very male dominated workplace and how much she disliked it. So she decided to pursue even bigger goals so that she could direct men instead (not verbatim). It’s encouraging to hear and read stories of female leadership. Hope you land your dream role!
There is so much about equal opportunities that goes unsaid. When you become in a position of leadership make sure to seek out and encourage growth from and by all employees.