Business and Employment Discrimination Written by: Mara-Kate Dickerson, Paige Dickerson, and John Rosenberg Within the vast history of business and employment, discrimination has forever impacted millions of employees that are treated unfavorably due to their skin color, race, gender, sexuality, age, religion or disability. An occurrence such as this has consequences, as legislation requires the workplace to be open to all employees, without any tolerance to prejudice or discrimination. Throughout the years, federal laws and policies have been set in place to ensure that employers take affirmative action to guarantee equality. Naturally, current issues will dictate the future, as each one reveals obstacles that society must overcome, and …show more content…
Alas, they were not entitled to the same rights as men, nor held to the same standards. Moreover, their occupational opportunities were severely limited, if at all existent. “Congress enacted Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination in employment on the basis of sex, among other grounds.” (Gender Discrimination - History) Nevertheless, discrimination constantly occurs, regardless of preventative measures in place to avoid infringement of a woman’s basic civil rights. In addition, Many highly qualified women are subtly discriminated against due to unexpected pregnancy. As a result, a less qualified man will fill the position, simply because he is a man. This constitutes unlawful sex discrimination, which is protected by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and prohibits women from being fired or discriminated against on the basis of pregnancy. Despite this, women often face the harsh reality of salary deduction and denied compensation. For example, a woman by the name of Whitney Tomlinson, a packer of a walmart distribution center located in Atlanta, filed a lawsuit against Walmart alleging that she had been mistreated due to her pregnancy restrictions. “She'd seen many other employees come into work with lifting restrictions and be temporarily reassigned to less physically demanding tasks. Why wouldn't they do the same for her? In recent years, A Better Balance, working with other legal rights groups, has filed five pregnancy discrimination charges with the EEOC against Walmart, two of which have turned into class-action lawsuits and have been filed in federal court.” (CNN- Fired for being pregnant) Within recent years, women’s rights movements have passed laws that guarantee reasonable accommodation to women, despite their being pregnant. However, discrimination remains widespread in business and employment, occurring anytime,