See appendix 2 where Janet Orlando, 53, is suing her employer for sex discrimination and $1.2 million (£ 700,000).
Examples of sexual harassment include the following:
- Physical harassment.
- Unwanted sexual comments or personal comments about a woman's appearance.
- Non verbal harassment such as unwanted gestures or displays of pornographic pictures.
Appendix 3 Chef's sexual harassment of waitress costs Mayfair club £124,000
See appendix 9 A teachers who tried to sue her employers after claiming the school failed to replace a “farting chair” has lost her £1m discrimination claim.
Victimization - Treating someone e.g. women unfairly for making a complaint about discrimination (for example, preventing all women from going on training courses, or excluding you from company social events)
See appendix 5 where Former banker Stephanie Villalba, who lost a £7.5m sex discrimination case against investment bank Merrill Lynch, has failed in her appeal over equal pay and claims of victimization.
EQUAL PAY ACT
The 1970 Equal Pay Act makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate between men and women in terms of their pay and conditions where they are doing the same or similar work; work rated as equivalent in a job evaluation study by the employer; or work of equal value.
An employer may be in breach of statutory requirements if they discriminate against a person on the grounds of:
- sex or marital status
- gender reassignment
- race
- religion or belief
- sexual orientation
- trade union membership
- part-time work
- fixed-term work
- disability
How common is sexual harassment at work
In 2002/2003 there were in excess of 22,000 complaints of discrimination on grounds of sex, race or disability. Discrimination claims count for 17 per cent of all tribunal applications.
UK employers are now spending £210m a year on employment tribunal claims, according to research from the think-tank that advises the government on discrimination in the workplace.
Around 30,000 legal actions – most claiming unfair dismissal, unequal pay or sex discrimination – are filed with the employment tribunal service each year.
This is related to appendix 4 Six female US employees of investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein filed a $1.4bn (£800m) sex discrimination claim for unfair and abusive treatment at the beginning of January.
Although many of these claims are eventually settled out of court, they still cost companies £7,000 on average, mainly to cover lawyers' fees, the research shows.
The Industrial Society (1993) reported that 54% of women and 9% of men had been sexually harassed at work.
The Industrial Relations Service (1996) found that in 54% of organizations a complaint of harassment had been made in the last year.
How to overcome Sexual Harassment
Comply with the company's guidelines to prevent sexual harassment
Follow the company's guidelines on the definition of sexual harassment
Follow the company's procedures in reporting incidents of sexual harassment, not only of yourself, but of others who complain to you
Sexual harassment could be construed as a criminal offence; make a police report if deemed necessary after professional advice.
Managing Diversity at work place
Kandola and Fullerton (1998) describe the basic concept of managing diversity in terms of:
its acceptance that the (work) population includes a broad range of people - consisting of visible and non-visible differences which will include factors such as sex, age, background, race, disability, personality and work style;
its foundation on the premise that harnessing these differences will create a productive environment in which everybody feels valued, where their talents are being fully utilized and within which organizational goals are met;
Its concern with movement within the organization, the culture of the organization and the meeting of business objectives
Its concern not only of personnel and human resource practitioners but of all employees, especially managers within an organization.
The three areas of possible ‘diversity benefits’ identified by Kandola and Fullerton (1998) are:
Proven benefits:- including employment of the ‘best’ candidate; organizational culture which enables employees’ potential to be realized; flexible working arrangements; employees are valued, motivated and developed; employees reluctant to leave.
Debatable benefits:- including employees ‘give their best’; employees more in tune with customer base; enhance innovation, creativity and problem solving; better customer service; improved quality.
Indirect benefits:- including better public image; satisfying work environment; improved staff relations; increased job satisfaction and morale; increased productivity; competitive edge. (1998)
Equal Opportunities Commission
The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) is an independent organization established under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. Its principal duties are:
- To work towards the elimination of sex discrimination and in the field of employment only, the elimination of discrimination against married persons
- To promote equality of opportunity between men and women generally
- To promote equality of opportunity, in the field of employment and of vocational training, for persons in respect of gender re-assignment
- To keep the relevant legislation under review
Straw three levels
Straw (1989) three level of equal opportunity can increase productivity and effectiveness in organisation work.
Level 1: Equal opps as equal chance- Equal chance means creating a level playing field for all groups
Level 2: Equal opps as equal access- Equal access means meeting quotas on selection shortlists for recruitment, training, promotion etc
Level 3: Equal opps as equal share - Equal share means all groups are represented proportionately at all levels across the organisation
Good Employment practices in eliminating sex discrimination
Every employer, regardless of size, must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. This means that employers must implement precautionary measures to minimize the risk of sexual harassment occurring and to respond appropriately when harassment does occur.
Size and structure of the organisation large organisations may need to organize formal information and training sessions to ensure that all employees are aware of and understand the organisation’s sexual harassment policy. In a small business it may be reasonable to provide copies of the policy to employees and have an informal discussion with employees to ensure they understand the policy.
In a large organization, it might be reasonable that a budget be allocated to sexual harassment training and all employees attend the training. In a small business where finances are limited it may not be reasonable to send each employee to sexual harassment training, but instead the employer could ask that each employee read the sexual harassment policy and fill out a questionnaire designed to ensure that the employee understands the policy.
Recruitment
Individual should be selected according to their personal capability to work on a given job. Company should not think that men only or women only can do certain type of jobs
Any qualifications or requirements applied to a job which effectively holds back applications from one sex or from married people should be kept only if they are justifiable in terms of the job to be done.
Any age limits should be retained only if they are necessary for the job. An unjustifiable age limit could constitute unlawful indirect discrimination.
- Diversity and equality of opportunity should be a central part of entire recruitment and selection process. The greater the care takes to be objective, systematic and fair, the more likely it is that you will find the best candidate and comply with equality legislation.
Advertising
- Advertisements should be clear and state the:
- Requirements of the job
- Necessary and the desirable criteria for applicants
- Activities and working practices of the organisation, for example, if you offer flexible working arrangements
- Job location
- Reward package, for example, the wages, holiday entitlement, pension provision
- Length and type of contract, for example, full-time, part-time, permanent, casual, temporary, covering maternity leave
- Application procedure and who to contact for details.
Employers should use gender neutral terms when advertising for staff. For example, adverts for a 'postman', 'waitress', 'salesgirl', which use a job description with a sexual connotation, are likely to contravene the Sex Discrimination Act. Occasionally, however, an employer may be able to lawfully discriminate on grounds of sex or race, for example, a department store could legitimately advertise for male applicants to play Father Christmas.
Job advertising should be carried out in such a way as to encourage applications from candidates of both genders. This can be achieved by placing advertisements in publications likely to reach both sexes. All advertising material and accompanying literature relating to employment or training issues should be reviewed to ensure that it avoids presenting men and women in stereotyped roles.
Where vacancies are filled by promotion or transfer, they should be published to all eligible employees in a way that they do not limit applications from either sex
Recruitment solely or primarily by word of mouth may unnecessarily restrict the choice of applicants available. This type of method should not be used in a workforce mainly of one sex, if in practice it prevents members of the opposite sex from applying.
Applications and Interviewing
Employers should ensure that line managers and all other employees who might come into contact with job applicants, should have been trained in the provisions of the SDA, including the fact that it is unlawful to instruct or put pressure on others to discriminate;
Applications from men and women should he processed in exactly the same way. All those handling applications and conducting interviews should be trained in the avoidance of unlawful discrimination and records of interviews kept, where practicable, showing why applicants were or were not appointed.
Questions should relate to the requirements of the job. Where it is necessary to assess whether personal circumstances will affect performance of the job (for example, where it involves unsocial hours or extensive travel) this should be discussed objectively without detailed questions based on assumptions about marital status, children and domestic obligations. Questions about marriage plans or family intentions should not be asked, as they could be construed as showing bias against women.
Selection Methods
Tests
If company wants to use test for selection, they should be related to job and/or career requirements and should only measure an individual's actual ability to do or train for the work or career.
These types of tests should be periodically reviewed to ensure that they remain relevant and free from any unjustifiable bias, either in content or in scoring mechanism
Protecting the worker
Most victims of sexual harassment are reluctant to report such incidents for fear of being victimised or are too embarrassed to make an issue of it. It would, however, be the duty and responsibility of the employer to protect the worker from sexual harassment.
Some of the reasons that discourage a worker from making a complaint/report of sexual harassment are:
- Attitude of employer. The incident is minor or the perpetrator did not mean to harass;
- The incident is too embarrassing to go into detail;
- Too much publicity would be attached to it and colleagues would be gossiping about the victim (possibly the perpetrator as well);
- Victimised in terms of promotion, bonus, or even dismissal;
- No proper procedure to make such a report; and
Promotion, Transfer and Training
When companies have appraisal system the assessment should be examined to ensure that they are not unlawfully discriminatory.
When a group of workers predominantly of one sex is excluded from an appraisal scheme, transfer and training and to other benefits should be reviewed, to ensure that there is no unlawful indirect discrimination;
Promotion and career development patterns are reviewed to ensure that the traditional qualifications are justifiable requirements for the job to be done. For example, promotion on the basis of length of service could amount to unlawful indirect discrimination.
Policies and practices regarding selection for training, day release and personal development should be examined for unlawful direct and indirect discrimination. Where there is found to be an imbalance in training as between sexes, the cause should be identified to ensure that it is not discriminatory;
Grievances, disciplinary procedure and victimization
Particular care is taken to ensure that an employee who has in good faith taken action under the Sex Discrimination Act or the Equal Pay Act does not receive less
Favorable treatment than other employees, for example by being disciplined or dismissed
Employees should be advised to use the internal procedures, where appropriate, but this is without prejudice to the individual's right to apply to an employment tribunal within the statutory time limit, i.e. before the end of the period of three months beginning when the act complained of was done, (There is no time limit if the victimization is continuing.)
Particular care is taken to deal effectively with all complaints of discrimination, victimization or harassment. It should not be assumed that they are made by those who are over-sensitive.
Pregnancy and Maternity
Dealing with pregnancy and maternity at work should not be a stressful experience for either the employer or employee. Manager should be able to plan ahead and it need not disrupt your business in any way.
Employment legislation includes procedures for both employees and employers during pregnancy, maternity leave and returning to work. It is important that managers and their staff are aware of their obligations and rights under the law.
Equality of Opportunity
Equality legislation gives employees protection from discrimination across the range of employment issues when they:
- • are pregnant
- • are on maternity leave, and
- • return to work.
Conclusion
After research it can be concluded that sexism in the city stills exists which has been shown through this report. Despite new laws have come in force women are still being discriminating.
Many companies have successfully implemented equal opportunity polices and other are working towards it. Almost all organizations strictly follow sex discrimination act and have policy and procedures in places to prevent sexism at workplace.
Reference
Ross, R. and Schneider, R. (1992) ‘A Redefinition - From Equality to Diversity’ in From Equality to Diversity, London: Pitman.
Kandola, R. and Fullerton, J. (1998) ‘The Benefits Mosaic’ in Diversity in Action: Managing the Mosaic, (2nd Edition) London: Institute of Personnel and Development
Boddy, D (2002) Management, An Introduction (2nd edition) New York, Pearson Education
Price, A (2004) HRM in a Business Context (2nd edition) London, Thomson
Gary Dressler (9th Edition) Human Resource Management Publisher: Prentice Hall
Journals
22 December 2005 Female mechanic sues Network Rail for sex discrimination, .
Daniel Thomas 15 June 2004 Record £7.8m claim sends warning to HR Personnel Today
Michael Millar 10 April 2006 12:12 'Farting chair' teacher loses £1m sex discrimination claim Personnel Today
Newspaper
James Rossiter (2003) Banker loses £1m sex bias claim Evening Standard 19/02/03 - Business section
Karen McVeigh after being spanked on a team-building exercise, Janet Orlando, 53, is suing her employer for sex discrimination The Times (London) FEATURES; Times2; Pg. 3
Content
Introduction 1
Types of discrimination 1-2
Equal pay act 3
Sexual Harassment 4-5
Managing Diversity 5
Straw Model 6
Good Employment Practice 6-10
Conclusion 10