Potential forms of discrimination

There are many potential forms of discrimination in business and they fall into the following categories Gender, Race, Religion, Age, Differential behaviour and Harassment. For each of these headings I will explain each of the above forms of discrimination: -

Gender this heading can be split into two headings discrimination against males and discrimination against females. The discrimination under this heading is job relates for example male are seen to have typical male jobs for example builders, mechanics, footballers, accountants and chefs. Women’s bobs are normally seen as cleaners, secretaries, teachers and nurses, these two lists of jobs normally stick to the gender but some of these jobs are done by the other gender for example teachers and nurses are some good examples of this. So for discrimination purposes men and women tend to get particular jobs because of their gender.

Race this heading can be split into stereotypical headings for example taxi drivers are normally Asian and they have there own business, they will probably not hire anyone who is not related to them so it is discriminating to everyone else. Teaching however is normally seen as a white person’s job and you do not normally see many people from ethnic minorities working as teachers, this is discrimination against people that are not white. Another example of racial discrimination is hiring a white person on the basis that they can speak a language like erdu but cannot speak it as well as an Asian.

Religion there are only a few main ways that religion can be seen as a form of discrimination, one of then is a butchers the religions that practice Hallal this is when they cannot handle meat so they cannot be employed as a butchers. Another form of discrimination is swimming, as men cannot see women of certain religions so they have to have a private swimming pool for lessons/recreation with no men present and so that no men can see them. This is a form of racial discrimination, as swimming baths will not normally do this for people because it would disrupt the normal opening time of the swimming bath for the general public that want to use the swimming pool.

Age there are only two good examples of age discrimination and they are as follows; - one of the main forms of discrimination is that you have to be aged 16 – 25 to join the army. The other form of age discrimination is to be a driving instructor you have to have at least three years of driving with no points on your license. This could be seen as discrimination as someone who has only been driving for a short period of time may be a better driver that someone that has been driving for three years. It is also seen as discrimination that you have to join the army before 25, as you may want to join when you are 26 or 27, so it is discriminating against these people.

Differential behaviour there are only two good examples of this type of discrimination and they are as follows; - people who have learning difficulties, these people are discriminated against because they have problems with learning new things. They are discriminated against because it may take them a little while longer to learn things that everyone else can learn more quickly. The other form of discrimination is people who have physical difficulties. For example people who have wheel chairs or crutches may be denied work because the place of work may not be equipped to cater for people that need special access to the building. It is normally not always cost efficient for the business to change the building to employ one person even though they may be the best person for the job.

Harassment there is only one main form of harassment discrimination and that is homosexuality. The main area where this is not allowed is in the army; if there are homosexuals in the army then this then leads to harassment by the other men against the targeted person or people. This form of discrimination is potentially bad because if someone states that they are homosexual when enlisting for the army then they will be denied a place because of this. This is discrimination because the people that are homosexual may want to be in the army but are not allowed, this is unfair on them because this is what they may want to do, they may want to fight for there country but they cannot because of there homosexuality.

The legislation’s for Equal opportunities

The legislation’s that are designed to ensure equal opportunity in the work place are the equal pay act, the sex discrimination act and the race relation’s act. Below I have written a description of each of the legislation’s on equal opportunities with a brief example of each one as well.

The equal pay act this act protects all people that are employed in the same line of work. It states that anyone doing the same job, as someone else must be paid the same amount of money, with no regards ...

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The legislation’s for Equal opportunities

The equal pay act this act protects all people that are employed in the same line of work. It states that anyone doing the same job, as someone else must be paid the same amount of money, with no regards to colour, religion or sex. The act protects people from been treated wrongly in regards to pay (e.g. how much you get paid) the act makes sure that you are not under paid for the work that you do and that you are no over pad either.

The sex discrimination act this act protects both men and women that are not employed for a particular job because of their sex. This act states that both men and women should have the same chance of getting the job as each other, especially if they are mentally and physically fit to do the job and meat the job requirements. This act states that there must be no discrimination against men or women if they can do the job, the job must go to the person with the better skills and qualifications to do the job properly and not on the grounds of what gender they are.

The race relation’s act the purpose of this act is to protect people that are of a different race, religion or ethnic origin. This act states that employers cannot discriminate against people that are of a different race, religion or ethnic origin. This act states that if someone were of a different race, religion or ethnic origin then they must be considered for the same job that anyone else would be considered for. If someone of a different race, religion or ethnic origin is better suited for a job than anyone else then they must get the job regardless of their race, religion or ethnic origin.

Equal opportunities agencies

There are three main enforcement agencies to do with the equal opportunities legislation and there are the EOC (the Equal Opportunities Commission), the CRE (the Commission for Racial Equality) and the Fair Employment Commission. For this part of the assignment I will explain briefly what both of theses agencies do and what their role is in enforcing equal opportunities in businesses.

The EOC (Equal Opportunities Commission of 1976) this is the official commission that regulates all matters and disputes about equal opportunities. It was set up with some specific tasks in mind and they were as follows; -

Working to end sex discrimination
Promoting equal opportunities for women and men
Reviewing and suggesting improvements to the sex discrimination act & the equal pay act

The equality between men and women is at the main thing that a healthy society and economy need. The EOC is leading the way for changes in employment practices, equal pay, retirement/pensions, the right for pregnant women to get part time work, education and training. This agency has been successful in challenging sex inequality and has achieved some changes as a result. The agency still has a lot to do to abolish sex discrimination to help the people that it creates so many barriers for.

The CRE (Commission for Racial Equality) works with individuals and with organisations for equality in the society, which also gives everyone an equal, chance to work. This agency also gives everyone the chance to learn and live in a discrimination free environment, which is also free from prejudices and racism. This agency offers help to people that think they have suffered racial discrimination at work it also makes the law aware of the race relations act and have the laws changed to help the people that it effects. The last main thing that this agency does is it runs campaigns to raise the awareness of people in business to the problems of racial discrimination and the consequences of it.

The Fair Employment Commission has a duty to keep a register of employers. The reason for this is so that they can keep a track of how many businesses are in operation and how many people are working for that business. The register keeps a track of where the business is, who owns it and the date that the business was first registered so that they can see how long the business has been in operation.

Equal opportunities policy for the Tab Bar

Section (I) - Rationale

The Tab Bar has chosen to have an equal opportunity policy because we want our employees to feel safe in the job that they do and that they know that there are procedures to follow if discrimination arises in the workplace. This policy is designed to offer security to the employees but also to give us the employer’s guidelines to stick to so discrimination never occurs at our place of work.

Section (II) – Aims & Objectives

The main aims and objectives of the equal opportunities policy for the tab bar are as follows; -

The first objective of the Tab Bar is to respect the employees, and to give everyone that is working in the bar equal amounts of responsibilities and the same wage regardless of race, religion or sex.
The main aim of the policy is to offer each employee a suitable working environment where they can develop their communication abilities whilst engaging in conversation with the customers.
The staff are also trained to deal with all types of customers and any problems that they may have behind the bar, all employees are trained to use the till and fix simple problems that the they may have with the tills.
This business does not discriminate against anyone with disabilities as long as they can do the job that they are applying for.

Section (III) – Process

The aims and objectives of this policy will be achieved through the training of all staff using the same training methods for everyone. This is so that everyone has the same training and the non-discrimination attitude at work will have started right at the start so that everyone will have started with the same knowledge and no one will have been discriminated against.

Section (IV) – Appendices

The policy will be pined up on the staff notice board so that everyone can see it and be reminded about if they forget, also the policy will be given to each employee when they start work so that they can read through it.

Benefits for the Employers & Employees from having an

Equal opportunity policy

The are several possible benefits of having an equal opportunity policy both for the employers and the employees, and they are as follows; -

It gives a good image of the business to the general public, the customers, the shareholders and the workers. This is good because it shows that the business cares about its image and that it is willing to have rules and policies to protect its image.

It changes the attitudes the public may have of the business if they see the business is changing its methods of work to better suit the needs of all its workers and the needs of the people that come for an interview.

It also looks goods for the workers as they may become more motivated if they feel that any problems that they have at work to do with discrimination then it will be dealt with properly and the employee will know what to expect.

It provides specific guidelines for the employees to follow explaining the dangers of committing discrimination against each other; it also shows that the business takes the matter of discrimination very seriously.

The policy will also give the employer respect from the employees as they will see that the employers care about what happens to the employee in the workplace and they are ready to protect what happens to them.

The forms of disability & potential

Forms of discrimination for disabled workers

The forms of disability

There are four main forms of disability and they are physical, mental, learning difficulties and chronic illness. I will explain the four forms of disability below.

Physical these are things like people in wheelchairs that need special entrances to buildings. People that deaf people that are deaf will not be able to hear instruction properly and people that are either fully blind or colour blind these people will no be able to see what they are doing properly.
Mental people who suffer from schizophrenic (split personalities) cannot be offered a job because you do not know what they will do next. People who suffer from panic attracts cannot be offered job where they have to be careful as they may have an attack and hurt themselves or damage something expensive.
Learning difficulties people that suffer from dyslexia cannot be offered jobs where they have to Wright a lot as they have difficulty with there spelling.
Chronic illness this is when someone is permanently ill so it is hard for them to get a job because no one wants to employ them because they will probably always ill and taking time off work.

Potential forms of discrimination for disabled workers

There are four main forms of discrimination for disable workers and they are as follows access to buildings, job opportunities, promotion and lack of understanding. I will explain each of the four points below.

Access to buildings for example no ramps in the building or any lifts for people with wheelchairs who will need these facilities if they are to work in this business.
Job opportunities the building is not able to employ someone in a wheelchair because there are no ramps or lifts to allow them access to all the building.
Promotion there is no chance of been promoted to a building sight manager it the normal worker that has been offered a promotion if they are dyslexic.
Lack of understanding if someone is autistic then they cannot really be employed in business as the normally cannot understand what people are saying and they normally shut people out of there lives.

Supportive structures

The supportive structures that employees might expect from employers and employees associations are as follows: -

The first thing that the employee might receive is aids, for example physical or visual aids to help them do there job. Technological aids for example a Braille telephone or computer.
The second thing that the employee might receive is some sort of adaptation of the physical features of the workplace, this means adding a ramp for someone in a wheel chair or something else like that which would help a disabled worker.
Employees may also receive special training to do a job if they have difficulty understanding what to so at first.
The special training that some workers receive may be on a more personal basis so the trainer can give their full attention to the trainee as to offer them more help if they need it.

Disabilities policy for the Tab Bar

Section (I) – Rationale

The Tab Bar has chosen to have a disabilities policy because we feel that we have to give a service that caters for the disabled workers that we have already employed and the workers that we may employ in the future. This policy is designed to offer support to our disabled workers and to show that we see everyone as an equal who works for us.

Section (II) – Aims & Objectives

The main aims and objectives that we hope the disabilities policy will enforce for the tab bar are as follows: -

The first aim of the policy is to employ at least 5% of workers with disabilities as so that we comply with the minimum 3% set by the government. But we add a further 2% to that to show that we do not discriminate against people with disabilities and if they can do the job they will be considered for it along with everyone else.
The second aim of this policy is to provide all our disabled workers with facilities that allow them to work better at the workplace.
The third thing that we hope this policy will bring is to add additional facilities to the workplace for disabled workers if their employment in the business would benefit either the other workers or the customers.

Section (III) – Process

The aims and objectives of the policy will be achieved by monitoring within the business once a week to make sure that the policy is been upheld. Also the equal opportunity policy will be used in conjunction with this policy to make sure that the policy aims and objectives are upheld.

Section (IV) – Appendices

The policy will be published and given to each employee when they start working for us with the equal opportunity policy. It will also be pined up next to the equal opportunity policy on the staff notice board for people to see and be reminded of. If an employee contravenes this policy in any way it will lead to an immediate review of that employee and be discussed if their services are required in the business.

The assistance that the local Council and the Government

Provide for disabled employees

The following are some statutory services that the Government and Leeds City Council provide to disabled workers: -

The main thing that the Government offers to disabled workers is policies. The two main policies that the Government has set up are the Equal opportunity legislation and the disability policies. These policies were set up to ensure that everyone in a business is treated the same way. So these policies are designed to help both disabled workers and workers that are been discriminated against for some reason. These policies are integrated into a business as either the Governments policy on the matter or the business constructs its own policy to show that they take the matter very seriously. The disabilities policy is designed to help disabled workers as it gives them some grounds to stand on if they think that they are been treated unfairly by either there employers or there interviewers.
The main thing that the local council has to offer to disabled workers is home help. This is a service that is especially for disabled workers as the council sends round someone to help a disabled person perform daily house chores, or to talk to them to offer support or something else of that nature. This helps the disabled person whilst they go to work so that if they find it difficult to perform these tasks on there own someone can do them for the disabled worker.
Something that either the local council or the government will provide is benefits. This is a cash pay out every month to the disabled worker to help them in the running of there house and to help pay for any special needs that they have that they have to pay for. This money will be separate from their income from their job however it will be influenced by how much they earn in their job.

The above services that are available for disabled employees would be integrated into my business (the tab bar) as follows: -

The two policies that the government have (the equal opportunity policy and the disability policy) have been integrated into my business as my own policies on these topics. This means that I have created my own policies for the business based on the policies that the government has brought out.
The home help that the local council offers disabled workers can also be integrated into my business. The people in my business that are offered this service will be allowed time off work on a regular basis to consult with there helper and do what ever they have to do with them whilst they are at home. Depending on how long they will require off work to see there helper will depend on weather or not they will be paid for it, if it is only one or two hours then they will be given there regular pay.
The benefits that they will or will not receive is to do with the council or the government and will there for not be integrated into the business.

The benefits for the employer of operating a disability policy is that they have a larger pool of workers to chose from, this means that they have the choice of more people to offer any jobs to and not just a select few. Another benefit is the image the business gets, this shows that the business cares about its image and is willing to show that they will employ anyone who can do the job that is advertised. The main benefit to the employee is that it gives them a chance to stay on at work if they become disabled for any reason.