Discrimination is an important perennial training topic for every workplace. So you’re in constant need of content that is concise and informative. In today’s Advisor, we give you a quick and compact session that you can use to bring employees up to speed in 10 minutes.
The goals of this session are to help the participant:
- Understand what discrimination in employment means.
- Know how to avoid discrimination in employment decisions.
Discriminatory employment practices are illegal and unfair. It’s illegal to discriminate when you hire, fire, promote, or provide benefits to employees. Employment practices can’t discriminate against people based on their race, color, age, sex, religion, national origin, or disability. Government contractors are specifically required to have nondiscriminatory practices.
It’s unfair to base employment decisions on anything other than individual qualifications and abilities. Why? Because it denies opportunity to qualified individuals. It also limits an employer’s access to the most qualified individuals.
It’s unfair to apply different standards, or to apply standards differently, to different individuals. The only basis for making fair and legal employment decisions is the individual’s ability and/or qualifications to do the job.
Yes, you do have the budget and time to train managers and supervisors with BLR’s 10-Minute HR Trainer. Try it at no cost or risk. Get details.
Equal employment opportunity laws affect all employment practices. Use objective job-related criteria for all employment decisions, including whom you hire, promote, train, discipline, fire, etc. Avoid discrimination in day-to-day supervisory activities and decisions. For example:
- Pay men and women equally for the same or comparable jobs.
- Provide qualified people with disabilities with reasonable accommodations when requested.
- Don’t play favorites.
- Don’t make assumptions about an individual’s abilities, interests, etc., based on age, sex, or other factors unrelated to qualifications and performance.
- Consider all employment decisions from the viewpoint of an objective observer. Ask yourself if your decisions could be considered discriminatory.
Be aware of legal protections against discrimination. Federal laws protect employees against discrimination based on:
- Age: Individuals can’t be rejected or fired just because they’re over 40. Their benefits must be equal to younger workers unless there’s proof that older workers’ benefits cost more.
- Sex. You can’t reject a man or woman for a job just because it’s traditionally held by the opposite sex. Women and men must get equal pay for equal work. You can’t use pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions as reasons to fire, deny a job, or force a leave; those conditions must also qualify for the same benefits than other temporary disabilities.
- Race, color, religion, and national origin: Employment decisions cannot be based on these personal characteristics.
- Sexual harassment: Sexual demands cannot be a condition for employment or other job decisions. Unwelcome sexual advances and requests for sexual favors or a hostile work environment are illegal sexual harassment.
- Disability: Qualified individuals can’t be denied job opportunities just because of a physical or mental disability or a record or reputation of one. Employers must make reasonable accommodations when requested if it doesn’t impose undue hardship.
- National origin or citizenship status: Citizens or noncitizens legally permitted to work in this country can’t be denied job opportunities based on their ancestry, accent, etc.
Applicable Regulations: Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Civil Rights Act Title VII, Equal Pay Act, Executive Order 11246, Immigration Reform and Control Act, Older Workers Benefits Protection Act, Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act, Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Act of 1974
Train your line managers with BLR’s 10-Minute HR Trainer. There won’t be time for classroom boredom. Get details.
Summary:
It’s illegal to discriminate against people in employment situations for reasons that have nothing to do with their ability to do the job. Keeping that simple rule in mind can help avoid lawsuits and offer a competitive edge in attracting and keeping qualified individuals.
The material in today’s Advisor is adapted from BLR’s 10-Minute HR Trainer session, “Discrimination,” which also includes a handout and a quiz.
Every 10-Minute HR Trainer session, in fact, includes a trainer’s outline, a takeaway handout, and a follow-up quiz. And you get all these for 50 key HR topics right off the bat in the initial book—plus quarterly updates with more essential training.
Effective HR Training in 10 Minutes!
As its name implies, this product trains managers and supervisors in critical HR skills in as little as 10 minutes for each topic.
With this training resource, we’ve provided an easy-to-manage program that lets you train in discrete, 10-minute chunks. It’s a program that’s easy for you to deliver and that requires little time from busy schedules. And it’s remarkably affordable.
As its name implies, this product trains managers and supervisors in critical HR skills in as little as 10 minutes for each topic. 10-Minute HR Trainer offers these features:
Trains in 50 key HR topics, including manager and supervisor responsibilities, under all major employment laws and how to legally carry out managerial actions from hiring to termination. (See a complete list of topics below.)
Uses the same teaching sequence master teachers use. Every training unit includes an overview, bullet points on key lessons, a quiz, and a handout to later reinforce the lesson .
Completely prewritten and self-contained. Each unit comes as a set of reproducible documents. Just make copies or turn them into overheads and you’re done. (Take a look at a sample lesson below.)
Updated continually. As laws change, your training must as well. 10-Minute HR Trainer provides new lessons and updated information every 90 days, along with a monthly Training Forum newsletter, for as long as you are in the program.
Works fast. Each session is so focused that there’s not a second’s waste of time. Your managers are in and out almost before they can look at the clock, yet they remember small details even months later.
Evaluate It at No Cost for 30 Days
We’ve arranged to make 10-Minute HR Trainer available to our readers for a 30-day, in-office, no-cost trial. Review it at your own pace and try some lessons with your colleagues. If it’s not for you, return it at our expense. Click here and we’ll set you up with our 10-Minute HR Trainer.
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