In-House Counsel

Stereotypes + Decision Making = Discrimination?

By Hanna

Today is Election Day in the United States.  Those participating in democracy by casting their vote for president will be making history today.  We will either have the oldest president to take the oath of office or the first African-American president.  Either will be a first and both require looking past stereotypes about age and race.

Stereotypes are mental shortcuts and broad brush generalizations about what certain characteristics represent.  They are an opinion.  Opinions are fine.  But in the workplace, when decisions are based on such generalizations without additional objective support you can wind up with bias and unfair favoritism.   

The law bans certain biases.  It calls them illegal discrimination and employers looking to avoid lawsuits will profit from understanding what type of behavior constitutes illegal discrimination and how to avoid it.

The first part of the task, identifying what is illegal discrimination is relatively easy.  Figuring out how to avoid it is much taller order because it challenges stereotypes we may have grown up with, ?comfortable? ways of thinking, and in some cases deeply entrenched cultural expectations. 

Take for example the subject of pregnancy discrimination.  Thirty years after discriminating on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions was made illegal in the U.S., data shows that between 1995 and 2007 the number of pregnancy discrimination cases increased 65% even as national birth rates dropped.  That?s sad. 

You?d think avoiding pregnancy discrimination would be pretty straightforward, but it?s not as Michael Maslanka points out in his humorous article titled Check Assumptions at the Door in Employment Law Matters.

The laws may differ internationally, but persistent gender stereotypes continue to hamper gender equality in the workplace and often contribute to actionable pay gaps. 

Most employees don?t bring an economic, tax, or other political agenda to work with them.  They just want to do a good job and be treated fairly.  So let’s jettison the stereotypes and get down to business.  Objective decision making is not just the smart thing to do; it?s the ethical and right thing to do. 

Full post as published by Legal Literacy on November 04, 2008 (boomark / email).