Human Resource Management Ch. 3

Disparate Treatment

A theory of discrimination based on different treatments given to individuals because of their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability.

Disparate Impact

A theory of discrimination based on facially neutral employment practices that disproportionately exclude a protected group from employment opportunities.

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery, rights to own property. Beginning of HR practices.

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

An act prohibiting individuals with disabilities from being discriminated against in the workplace.

Reasonable Accommodation

Places a special obligation on an employer to affirmatively do something to accommodate an individual's disability or religion. Making facilities readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities. Muslim break periods for prayer.

14th Amendment

Provides equal protection for all citizens and requires due process in state action.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

The government commission to ensure that all individuals have an equal opportunity for employment, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin. A division of the Department of Justice responsible for enforcing most of the EEO laws by investigating and resolving discrimination complaints, gathering information, and issuing guidelines.

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

The government's attempt to ensure that all individuals have an equal opportunity for employment, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin. Everyone is eligible to get hired.

Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

The law that authorizes the federal government to establish and enforce occupational safety and health standards for all places of employment engaging in interstate commerce.

Goals and Timetables

The part of a written affirmative action plan that specifies the percentage of women and job minorities that an employer seeks to have in each job group and the date by which that percentage is to be attained. Achieving balance in the workforce.

General Duty Clause

The provision of the Occupational Safety and Health Act that states an employer has overall obligation to furnish employees with a place of employment free from recognized hazards.

Action Steps

The written affirmative plan that specifies what an employer plans to do to reduce underutilization of protected groups.

Hostile Working Environment

When someone's behavior in the workplace creates an environment that makes it difficult for someone of a particular sex to work. A more subtle form of sexual harassment. Language, jokes, pictures.

alternative work arrangements

methods of staffing other than the traditional hiring of full time employees (for example, use of independent contractors, on call workers, temporary workers, and contract company workers)

right-to-know laws

state laws that require employers to provide information to employees about the health risks associated with exposure to substances considered hazardous

self-service

system in which employees have online access to information about HR issues and go online to enroll themselves in programs and provide feedback through surveys

office of federal contract compliance programs (OFCCP)

the agency responsible for enforcing the executive orders that cover companies doing business with the federal government

electronic human resource management (e-HRM)

the processing and transmission of digitized HR information, especially using computer networking and the Internet

Job Hazard Analysis Technique

A break down of each job into basic elements, each of which is rated for its potential for harm or injury.

Utilization Analysis

A comparison of the race, sex, and ethnic composition of an employer's workforce with that of the available labor supply.

Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ)

A job qualification based on sex, religion, and so on that an employer asserts is a necessary qualification for the job instead of a preferential bias.

Executive Orders

Directives issued and amended unilaterally by the president. Do not require congressional approval, yet have no force of law.

Safety Awareness Program

Employer programs that attempt to instill symbolic and substantive changes in the organization's emphasis on safety. Identifies and communicates hazards, reinforces safe practices, and promotes safety internationally.

Preventative Steps

Include development of a policy statement, training, a reporting mechanism, and a disciplinary policy.

Executive Order 11246

Issued by Johnson, prohibits government contractors from discrimination. Affirmative action for women and minorities for employers receiving over $10,000 from the federal government.

Executive Order 11478

Issued by Nixon, government employment policies based on merit and fitness and specifies that race, color, sex, religion, and national origin should not be considered.

Technic of Operations Review (TOR)

Method of determining safety problems via an analysis of past accidents.

Standard Deviation Rule

Needed to analyze employment tests to determine disparate impact; it uses the difference between the expected representation for minority groups and the actual representation to determine whether the difference between the two is greater than would occur by chance. Uses actual probability distributions to determine adverse impact.

Quid Pro Quo Harassment

Occurs when some type of benefit or punishment is made contingent upon the employee submitting to sexual advances. Bundy v. Jackson. "If you do this=promotion."

Reverse Discrimination

Some people feel quotas and preferential treatment involved with the affirmative action plans are discrimination against a majority group in favor of the minority. Opposite effect that law intended.

Four-Fifths Rule

States that an employment test has disparate impact if the hiring rate for a minority group is less than 80% of the hiring rate for the majority group.

reasonable accommodation

an employer's obligation to do something to enable an otherwise qualified person to perform a job

occupational safety and health administration (OSHA)

labor department agency responsible for inspecting employers, applying safety and health standard, and levying fines for violation