Preventing Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace

This article discusses the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the measures that employers can take to prevent harassment and discrimination in the workplace. It also explains the policies prepared by EEOC and the responsibilities of HR managers. The article emphasizes the importance of training employees and promoting an inclusive culture in the workplace.

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PARAGRAPH:
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission refers to an agency which has the duty
to enforce the federal laws in case any harassment or discrimination occurs against any employee
or job applicant in United States (Watson, 2018). In the stated article, it is seen that various cases
have been instituted against the employers where employees are subjected to racial, sexual or
even verbal harassment as it amounts to the infringement of the federal law.
In order to prevent the infringement of rights determined by the EEOC, measures must be
taken by the employers of the company. The employees and the human resource managers must
be trained about the EEO laws. In addition to this, a stringent EEO policy must be implemented
which is required to be embraced at the higher levels of the organization. An inclusive culture
has to be promoted in the work place by including a professional environment which will
promote personal differences. Moreover alternate dispute resolution can be allowed that will help
to resolve disputes at early stage (Sachs, 2019). Moreover, neutral decisions must be established
such that decisions on the basis of hidden biasness or personal stereotypes can be avoided. Lastly
open and free communication can be promoted which will help to reduce scope of
misunderstanding that can eventually get converted into legally enforceable EEO issues.
According to the policies prepared by EEOC, damages in the form of compensation are
awarded to the federal employees (McCann, Tomaskovic-Devey & Badgett, 2018). Usually
compensations are awarded for the suffering or the harm they suffer because of the
discrimination inflicted to the victim. Although damages given for discrimination consist of both
pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages but the Federal employees can only claim for
compensatory damages as they cannot claim for punitive damages. Pecuniary damages are

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usually given to the complainant as compensation for expenses incurred because of the unlawful
discrimination. On the other hand, non- pecuniary losses include damages for emotional pain,
suffering, agony, anger and other intangible losses that may occur due to such discrimination.
The Human resource managers have huge responsibility to prevent discrimination inside
the organization by taking suitable steps to prevent harassment and discrimination against the
employees (Cheung et al., 2016). He must inform the employees about the limits of the behavior
entail when they will be hired. The HR can even give trainings regarding this. After proper
training, he must make arrangements such that the employees must sign written a document
stating that they have undergone the training and understood it. This document will be then kept
with their personal files. Further the HR must arrange for brush- up trainings as and when
required which will act as a reminder for the employees regarding the harassment issues and
ways to avoid them. The HR must have sound knowledge and understanding of the law related to
the discrimination to protect the company against this type of lawsuits. They must place the
policies followed by the organization at right place for avoiding discrimination.

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References:
Cheung, H. K., King, E., Lindsey, A., Membere, A., Markell, H. M., & Kilcullen, M. (2016).
Understanding and Reducing Workplace Discrimination', Research in Personnel and
Human Resources Management (Research in Personnel and Human Resources
Management, Volume 34).
McCann, C., Tomaskovic-Devey, D., & Badgett, L. (2018). Employers' Responses to Sexual
Harassment. Available at SSRN 3407960.
Sachs, S. (2019). Arbitration in Internal Dispute Resolution Programs: The Scarlet Letter A in
Sexual Harassment Claims. Pepp. Disp. Resol. LJ, 19, 83.
Watson, J. D. (2018). US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vs. Discovering Hidden
Hawaii Tours, Inc. et al.