Equal Employment Opportunity Research Articles

The Role of Law and Myth in Creating a Workplace that 'Looks Like America'

Equal employment opportunity (EEO) law has played a poor role in incentivizing effective diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and harassment prevention programming. In litigation and investigation, too many judges and regulators credit employers for maintaining policies and programs rather than requiring that employers embrace efforts that work. Likewise, many employers and consultants fail to consider the organizational effects created by DEI and harassment programming. Willful blindness prevents the admission that some policies and programming, although not all, harm those most in need of protection. This approach has resulted in two problems. One is a doctrinal dilemma because important presumptions embedded in anti-discrimination law are tethered to employer practices, many of which do not promote EEO. Simultaneously, society faces an organizational predicament because employer practices are driven by unexamined myths about how to achieve bias and harassment-free environments. Neo-institutional theory explains how this form-over-substance approach to EEO law and practice began and has evolved. This article argues that favorable conditions exist for a shift from a cosmetic to an evidence-based approach to legal compliance. Three developments mark the way forward: 1) a pathbreaking Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) report; 2) the EEOC’s call for better research on DEI and harassment prevention program efficacy; and 3) new social science research on those organizational efforts most likely to succeed and those most likely to prompt backlash. To facilitate evidence-based EEO compliance, this article advocates changes in liability standards. Also recommended is the creation of a supervised research safe harbor for employers willing to work with researchers and regulators to assess and continuously improve their DEI and harassment prevention efforts. Finally, the article suggests lawyers more frequently employ Brandeis briefs in litigation to place social science research directly in front of jurists. Solving the twin problems wrought by cosmetic compliance requires taking seriously the findings of social scientists. An evidence-based approach to DEI and harassment prevention would assist in restoring the promise of EEO law to create healthy, diverse, and bias free American workplaces.

Intellectual capital and intellectual imperatives of higher education sector: an emerging economy perspective

One in every four graduates of the world will be the product of Indian higher education system by the year 2030. Against the backdrop of the report issued by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), this study aims to explore the effect of university intellectual capital on 'intellectual imperatives' of the Indian higher education. Structural equation modelling was tested on 590 university faculty members to gauge the influence of university intellectual capital on the intellectual imperatives of the higher education sector identified in the report. Results revealed that intellectual capital strongly influences 'intellectual imperatives'. Research conducive policies, employee-oriented practices, equal employment opportunities, stakeholder orientation and networking emerged as the earmarks of university intellectual capital. The study has international implications and provides policymakers and practitioners a feasible model to leverage university intellectual capital to create a situation conducive to enhance university performance.

LEGAL PROBLEMS OF LEGAL ENTITIES 'LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES TO THE ENVIRONMENT REGULATION

The relevance of this study. Gender inequality in employment is a complex phenomenon that can be observed in organizational structures, work processes and practice. It should be noted that this is a global problem, as equal rights, and opportunities for both sexes have not been fully and comprehensively implemented either in Lithuania or in many other countries. It should be noted that in 1998 Lithuania was one of the first in Eastern and Central Europe to adopt the Law on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. The analyzed topic is especially relevant, because in both Lithuania and Turkey there are more and more cases of violations of women's rights in labor relations. According to the Special Investigation Service, there is an increasing number of cases of such offenses with signs of discrimination. However, political confidence in Lithuania remains relatively low due to the democratic deficit: democracy is not yet rooted enough to give the public absolute confidence in state institutions, and state institutions themselves do not function in a way that promotes trust in them. All this creates a negative image of the Lithuanian work environment. Some employment authorities are passive in responding to this situation and are not looking for solutions to prevent this phenomenon. There is currently no system in place to reveal or recommend the most effective methods of combating discrimination in employment. The main problem. Analyzing the problematic situation regarding violations of women's rights in labor legal relations, the following main problems can be raised: firstly, it is more difficult for women, as weaker parties to the employment relationship, to protect themselves from guarantees that are not applied to them properly, for example by employers abusing their position by not giving workers raising their days of rest or by not respecting the statutory right to leave. While these violations appear to be of a general nature, they are considered violations of women’s rights. secondly, although discrimination is widely discussed in society, cases of discrimination are not always recognizable. Cases of sexual harassment, or open statements and actions of the employer against a person's gender, age, nationality, are usually imagined in terms of discrimination. Less emphasized types of discrimination remain unrecognized, with the result that the employee does not defend his or her violated rights. thirdly, distrust of state-provided remedies for violated rights still prevails in both Lithuania and Turkey. Often, a large proportion of women have experienced violations of equal rights and opportunities without recourse. The following tasks: 1. To clarify the concepts of women and labor rights. 2. To identify the problems of violations of women's rights in labor legal relations. 3. Examine the implementation of equal rights and opportunities in employment. 4. To present the results of the analysis of violations of women's rights based on the data of the conducted research. The aim of this work Analyse the legal acts ensuring women's rights and identify areas for improvement in the fight against violations of women's rights in labour relations. The paper concluded that discrimination against women in employment often has a negative impact on women's earnings and opportunities, as well as a significant shortage of women in management positions, and women need more time to pursue a career. Probably the main factor that causes women to experience discrimination and rights violations in employment is motherhood. Motherhood and the gender division of labour, for which women have the main responsibility for maintaining their homes and families, are important perpetrators of gender inequality and inequality between women. The novelty the analysis provided insight into today's problems in ensuring women's rights, which will help to draw conclusions and make proposals that could influence the improvement of legislation regulating women's rights. Given that existing research on equal rights is not sufficiently comprehensive and new, and that it focuses on equal rights in general, without excluding women as a subject, research material will be useful for both legal practitioners and researchers who will benefit from the results of this work and will continue the analysis of the issues on this topic. As the result proper implementation of equal rights and opportunities reduces violations of women's rights in employment. The used methodology. The following methods were used in the work: systematic analysis, document analysis, comparative, historical and generalization methods

A study of the context of organizational (input) level factors to promoting gender equality in gambella regional state of Ethiopia

It is not possible to achieve a controversial goal, such as gender equality, without a clear strategic plan setting out policy, objectives, action, time frame and resources. Any organizational entity of the public or private sector nature should contribute to enhancing greater gender equality in order to minimize the widely expanding gender equality gap between men and women. It should be able to contribute substantively to greater gender equality by having the appropriate gender mainstreaming structures, policies and procedures in place. The objective of this article was to show the existing situation of organizational (input) level factors towards the promotion of gender equality in the Gambella Peoples’ National Regional State of Ethiopia. The study has shown that the basic policy documents did not exist in several public sector organizations. Certain basic gender and gender-related strategies to implementing the gender and gender-related policy documents were not practiced in the public sector offices. The existing gender and gender-related strategies to implementing such gender policy documents were not clear to the civil servants. Gender focal point networking were absent in the public sector organizations. It has also shown that equal hiring or employment opportunities or practices were existing, gender unit department (division) activities were incorporated in the basic organizational core policy goals, objectives, and projects, and job responsibilities and mandates for the gender unit departments or divisions were existing in the public sector offices.

Why is Workplace Sexual Harassment Underreported? The Value of Outside Options Amid the Threat of Retaliation

Why is workplace sexual harassment chronically underreported? We hypothesize that employers coerce victims into silence through the threat of a retaliatory firing, and test this theory by estimating whether external shocks that reduce the value of a worker’s outside options exacerbate underreporting. Under mild assumptions, a rise in the severity of formal complaints is indicative of increased underreporting. Combining this insight with an objective measure of the quality of charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), we perform two analyses. First, we assess whether workers report sexual harassment more selectively during recessions, when outside labor market options are limited. We estimate the fraction of sexual harassment charges deemed to have merit by the EEOC increases by 0.5-0.7% for each one percentage point increase in a state-industry’s monthly unemployment rate. The effect is amplified in industries employing a larger fraction of men and in establishments with a higher share of male managers. Second, we test whether less generous UI benefits create economic incentives for victims of workplace sexual harassment to remain silent. We find the selectivity of sexual harassment charges increases by more than 30% in response to a 50% cut to North Carolina’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) program following the Great Recession.

Beyond Sex-Plus: Acknowledging Black Women in Employment Law and Policy

It has been more than 30 years since Kimberle Crenshaw published her pathbreaking article critiquing the inadequacy of antidiscrimination law in addressing claims at the intersection of race and sex discrimination. This Article focuses on the challenges Black women continue to face when bringing intersectional claims, despite experiencing high rates of discrimination and harassment. The new status quo has not resolved the problems that she documented, and has introduced a set of second generation intersectionality issues. Most significantly, many courts now recognize that Black women experience discrimination differently than do white women or Black men. Yet, despite the professionally and psychologically disabling consequences of such discrimination, judges have failed to develop a new analytic paradigm for addressing intersectional claims under Title VII. Likewise, Congress has failed to offer a legislative solution, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission provides scant guidance for employees, employers, and attorneys attempting to navigate these claims. Even the recent flurry of #MeToo-inspired state legislative reforms miss the opportunity to address this persistent problem. Despite vocal resistance to Critical Race Theory, the ongoing metoo movement and increased receptiveness to address systemic racism following the mass protests in 2020, make this an opportune time to renew our discussion of intersectionality and reshape the meager analytical framework of antidiscrimination law. This Article lays the foundation for future research and second generation law and policy proposals that will take crucial steps towards finally acknowledging and addressing the real discrimination Black women face.

Measuring Employment Impact: Applications and Cases

Applying the Impact-Weighted Accounts Initiative’s employment impact methodology, on eight leading companies, we document wide variability in employment impacts as a percentage of salaries paid, ranging between 59 and 80 percent. We identify opportunities for improvement and discuss transition plans for companies to create more positive employment impact. We conclude with a call for disclosure of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission EEO-1 reports, paid leave, childcare and healthcare benefits, which would greatly facilitate the comparable and reliable measurement of employment impact in the future.

Why is Workplace Sexual Harassment Underreported? The Value of Outside Options Amid the Threat of Retaliation

Why is workplace sexual harassment chronically underreported? We hypothesize that employers coerce victims into silence through the threat of a retaliatory firing, and test this theory by estimating whether external shocks that reduce the value of a worker's outside options exacerbate underreporting. Under mild assumptions, a rise in the severity of formal complaints is indicative of increased underreporting. Combining this insight with an objective measure of the quality of charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), we perform two analyses. First, we assess whether workers report sexual harassment more selectively during recessions, when outside labor market options are limited. We estimate the fraction of sexual harassment charges deemed to have merit by the EEOC increases by 0.5-0.7% for each one percentage point increase in a state-industry's monthly unemployment rate. The effect is amplified in industries employing a larger fraction of men and in establishments with a higher share of male managers. Second, we test whether less generous UI benefits create economic incentives for victims of workplace sexual harassment to remain silent. We find the selectivity of sexual harassment charges increases by more than 30% in response to a 50% cut to North Carolina's Unemployment Insurance (UI) program following the Great Recession.

Age Discrimination Across the Business Cycle

A key prediction of discrimination models is that competition in the labor market serves as a moderating force on employer discrimination. In the presence of market frictions, however, recessions create excess labor supply and thus generate opportunities to engage in discriminatory behaviors far more cheaply. A natural question arises: does discrimination increase during recessions? We focus on age discrimination and test this hypothesis in two ways. We first use employee discrimination charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), along with an objective measure of the quality of those charges. For each one percentage point increase in a state-industry’s monthly unemployment rate, the volume of age discrimination firing and hiring charges increases by 4.8% and 3.4%, respectively. Even though the incentive to file weaker claims is stronger when unemployment is high, the fraction of meritorious claims also increases significantly when labor market conditions deteriorate. This is a sufficient condition for real (versus merely reported) discrimination to be increasing under mild assumptions. Second, we repurpose data from a correspondence study in which fictitious resumes of women were randomly assigned older versus younger ages and circulated across different cities and time periods during the recovery from the Great Recession. Each one percentage point increase in the local unemployment rate reduces the relative callback rate for older women by 14%.

The Effect of Affirmative Action on Workers' Outcomes

Fifty-six years after the introduction of affirmative action in employment in the U.S., there is a lack of consensus regarding the effect of this policy on workers’ careers (Holzerand Neumark, 2000). This paper contributes to fill this gap by building and analyzing a dataset that allows us to quantify the effects of affirmative action in employment on workers’ labor market outcomes. This paper circumvents prior data restrictions by constructing the first administrative database containing worker-level information (from the Longitudinal Employment Household Dynamics) as well as the federal contractor status of workers' employers (from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Data and Federal Procurement Data). We estimate the causal effects of affirmative action on workers’ outcomes exploiting different features specified by the legal obligations of the regulation in a regression discontinuity setting.

Retaliation against employees in the USA: an analysis in terms of organizational behavior

Purpose – The number of retaliation charges filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has been increasing dramatically over last decade. This analysis is grounded on the USA regulations and a merged city and a county local government in the USA. Organizational analysis was based on the work of Bolman and Deal (2008). This study's aim was to explore the relationships between organizational behavior and retaliation against employees in the USA and increase attention among scholars for further research as well. Although retaliation is classified under discrimination it is taken as a special charge. Methodology– The recent lawsuit examples demonstrate the apparent costly conflict within the local government, organizational structure and its systems are reviewed to explore if they are causing negative conflicts in the organization. Bolman and Deal's (2008) strategy is applied to the studied local government in the USA. To be able to understand the relationships between the local governmental structure and retaliation problems is deeply analyzed on structural, human resources, political, and symbolic frames. Most of the retaliation cases took place at the Division of Community Correction. To explore if there are internal contributors’ effects to the problem requirements for a job application and job descriptions of a correction officer are investigated and compared with other organizations’ job description for the same position, as well as training requirements. Findings – This study revealed several problems that the studied local government needs to address to prevent retaliation cases. First of all, the local government doesn’t have an established culture, and because of that, the employees are not sure how to behave or act when they face challenges. Although organizational symbols exist to eliminate confusion, ambiguity to provide direction, to secure hope and faith in organizations, the local government doesn’t have clear symbols. While stories convey values and serve as powerful modes from the tyranny of facts and logic, the local government’s employees are afraid of speaking out about some issues, and bad stories pass from employees to employees. In terms of policies, the study discovered that whatever stated officially is not in use. Harassment training is given to new beginners and never reoffered to current employees. Broken and unclear communication is another finding that might be leading to organizational problems. Conclusion – The increasing number of costly retaliation cases in the United States needs more attention to the causes to solve this problem. Public agencies are funded by taxes paid by households and companies to the government to receive services such as water, roads, education etc. Public agencies’ high lawsuit settlement payments jeopardize the public’s rights to have services. These problems have some indirect costs which should be taken into account. Currently, little attention is paid to the subject by scholars, and therefore it needs to be explored more. The results of the study would apply to many organizations including public and private sector.

Interagency Coordination on Labor Regulation

After 9/11, Congress, federal agencies, and scholars exposed the devastating results of the national security agencies’ failure to coordinate. The financial crisis has been linked to similar coordination failures in the context of interagency banking regulation, with jurisdictional gaps and blind spots resulting in failure to prevent a global recession. But despite Gilded Age-levels of inequality, little attention has focused on the failures of interagency coordination to secure Americans’ access to economic opportunity through work — whether through securing higher wages and higher union density, coordinating government enforcement to achieve redistributive goals and combat consolidation of employer buyer power, or overcoming systemic abuses in employers’ wage theft, discrimination, and worker mistreatment. The crippling spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic demands that now, more than ever, agencies coordinate in their regulation of labor markets to accomplish micro- and macroeconomic policy goals.This Essay is a component of a larger project that seeks to document federal agencies’ selective coordination along six core policy vectors that impact work- or income-based avenues towards equality — macroeconomic, microeconomic, institution-building, industry-specific, anti-subordination, and democratic/expressive policy. It presents the results of a novel data set collecting and systematizing existing Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) authorized by the core agencies involved in labor market regulation: the Department of Labor (DOL), its sub-agencies, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Department of Justice-Antitrust Division, and the Federal Trade Commission. By hand-coding and analyzing the 112 discoverable MOUs from the 1950s to the present, the Essay presents a novel history of interagency coordination on labor regulation, highlighting which labor agencies coordinate most and least, what such coordination facilitates as a substantive and administrative matter, and the broad scope and areas of labor market regulation on which coordination has not yet occurred. It concludes by arguing that the federal government lacks a coherent, aligned vision on labor market regulation and economic mobility through work, and proposes next steps for improving agency coordination.

Workplace Discrimination Experiences of Americans With Alcohol Use Disorders and Americans With Drug Use Disorders: A Comparative Analysis

The purpose of this study was to investigate the patterns in allegations of workplace discrimination by individuals with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) relative to those with other drug use disorders (DUD). The goal of the research was to describe the uniqueness of workplace discrimination, both actual and perceived, that has occurred against individuals with AUD when compared to those with DUD through analysis of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Integrated Mission System (IMS) database. An ex post facto, causal comparative quantitative design was used to examine Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) Title I complaints received by the EEOC from individuals with AUD ( n = 2,123) from 2009 through 2016 in comparison to ADAAA Title I complaints received from individuals with DUD ( n = 1,472) over the same time period. Results revealed statistically significant differences in the patterns of issues alleged by the two groups. The AUD charging parties (individuals who filed the complaints) were, on average, significantly older and involved fewer African Americans than did the DUD comparison group. Individuals with AUD were significantly less likely than the DUD group to achieve merit closures when investigations were completed. This means that the DUD group’s investigations were more often closed as favorable to the charging party. Implications for rehabilitation practice and further research are discussed.

Life is a highway: Driver's license acquisition and social determinants for youth in foster care and their non-fostercare peers.

Data regarding the connection between driver licensure and social determinants for youth could provide insight into the impact of driver license acquisition. These relationships are important for youth overall and particularly for foster youth given that adolescents in foster care obtain driver's licenses less often than their non-foster care peers. This integrative review explores the association between driver licensure and social determinants. Whittemore and Knafl guidelines were used to conduct the integrative review. The articles were identified in collaboration with an expert in library science and public health. Results were organized by the Healthy People 2030 (HP 2030) Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) model. Six studies were included. Social and community context included social support structures helping youth get driver's licenses. Economics, including income and education, influenced license acquisition. Driver license acquisition was associated with improved well-being, security, and mental health. While fewer of those living in urban, walkable neighborhoods with access to public transportation were licensed, results from other studies suggest that car access is associated with psychological well-being. Further, licensure is disproportionately lower for populations historically marginalized from equal housing, education, and employment opportunities. Licensure plays a role in well-being.

African American access to management post‐1990: A review and critique of existing sociological research

AbstractThis study reviews and critiques the growing body of sociological research that has dramatically increased our understanding of the dynamics of African American disadvantage in access to managerial positions across the post‐1990 period. This literature, first, identifies both the burdensome barriers to entry faced by African Americans (e.g., a relatively narrow and formalistic route to management which is pronounced in the private sector) and how equal employment opportunity (EEO) directives may reduce them. Second, it establishes that African Americans face more difficulties retaining positions than Whites (e.g., process of downward movement is broad and generalized and is pronounced in the private sector) and formal EEO policy governing the process of downward movement often institutionalizes racial inequalities. Nevertheless, both richer/more definitive empirical insights and theoretical development on this topic remains elusive because of two fundamental shortcomings discussed as follows: (1) the nature and consequences of severe data/evidentiary limitations, and (2) limitations in the scope/breadth of issues examined.

Race, ethnicity, and social change: The democratization of middle‐class crime*

AbstractSince the mid‐1970s, the percentage of non‐White people convicted of white‐collar type crimes in the federal judicial system has been growing steadily. In 2015, non‐Whites accounted for more than half of all convictions for certain white‐collar type crimes, but the increase in non‐White participation has not occurred evenly across all race and ethnic groups. Asians and Latinos have increased their participation in white‐collar crime more so than Blacks. Using data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the U.S. Census, we investigate whether the differential increase among race and ethnic groups in white‐collar type crimes can be explained by their differential increase in middle‐class occupations. The findings have implications for opportunity, cultural, and race‐centered perspectives on crime, as well as institutional anomie theory, and they suggest that low‐level white‐collar crimes are being democratized along lines of race and ethnicity.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964: Beyond Race to Employment Discrimination Based on Sex: The “Three Letter Word” That Has Continued to Vex Society and The United States Supreme Court

This article is a comprehensive review of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, more specifically, Title VII, which outlawed discrimination based upon, “race, color, creed, national origin, and sex.” The article traces the legislative genesis of the Act, the function of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and discusses some of the major cases decided by the United States Supreme Court and other federal courts that have defined both the reaches and limits of the legislation which initially focused on prohibiting discrimination based on “race.” The article then focuses on discrimination based on “sex” and highlights the role the United States Supreme Court has played in fleshing out the parameters of employment discrimination from the 1960s through the historic decision reached by the Court in June of 2020 in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, relating to sexual orientation, transgender status, and sex stereotyping.

RECRUITMENT, SELECTION AND INTEGRATION IN THE HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

In the human resource field, in order to be successful and especially to survive, organisations in general and companies, in particular, have to settle the following aspects: to identify the qualifications and skills and to choose the candidates that suit best the requirements of the vacancy or newly created jobs; to identify and attract competitive candidates using the most appropriate methods, sources or head hunting environments; to comply with the legislation in the field regarding equal opportunities for employment and to correct the existing discriminatory practices or some imbalances.

The Islamic Banking Sector Of Pakistan: The Impact Of Leadership Opportunities, Gender Differences, Working Conditions And Employee Performance On Job Satisfaction Of Female Employees Of The Industry

The findings of this research study is constructed depending the role of women in Islamic Banking industry of Pakistan. It has been conducted with an objective to determine the contrast of leadership opportunities, gender differences, working condition, employee performance with Job Satisfaction. The data has been collected from 200 male and female participants, representing the Islamic Banking Sector of Pakistan (Meezan Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and Bank Islami). The result of the research shows a positive association in the selected dependent and independent variables. The study result further supports that in the current scenario the male gender participation for authoritative and leadership position is comparatively high as paralleled to female in the Pakistani Islamic Banking Sector of Pakistan. Further, it reveals that male working employees in the Islamic banking sector of Pakistan are far more satisfied as compared to female working participants. The result has reflected that the constructed model is significant (at the p < 0.001 level). The findings of this particular study possibly may assist the upper management to revisit their working environment policies and practices to consider females as equally responsible for challenging leadership roles, providing career path opportunities, and to promote Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) in organizations.

The Line Between Protected Speech and Lawful Employee Discipline

Work rules on allowable types of employee speech are often intended to help employee morale and company reputation. Further, the employer's intention to comply with equal employment opportunity laws by discouraging harassment can lead to rules that require employees to refrain from certain types of outbursts or conduct. Few could argue that such rules serve a valuable purpose in the workplace.