Racial Harassment at Trenton Communications Inc

The provided content discusses how employees can be harassed and abused due to their race, religion, or other factors, which can lead to a bad working environment. The organization should ensure that all employees get equal opportunities and are not discriminated against based on their race, caste, etc. Laws have been prepared by the government and management to prevent such harassment and ensure a fair working environment. However, from the case study, it is clear that Trenton Communications Inc, despite having anti-discrimination rules, allowed racial harassment of Maalick, an African American employee.

Running Head: ISSUES AND PRACTICES IN HR MANAGEMENT 1
Human Resource Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University

ISSUES AND PRACTICES IN HR MANAGEMENT 2
Case Study
1. Explain what is legally needed in order for religious discrimination to exist.
Ans: Religious discrimination is a type of discrimination in which a person or a group of
persons is discriminated based on their religious beliefs and ideals. People are mocked and
this kind of incidents not only happens in the personal life but also happens in the
professional life as well. So, the legal rules are made and implemented so as to stop this kind
of religious discrimination. They not only play an important role to protect the people of
different religions but also plays an important role in safeguarding the religious as well as
ethical and moral beliefs of a person. In religious discrimination, people are treated
differently and are not given their proper rights. In the workplace also, various kinds of
religious discrimination may take place. People are not treated properly, not given equal
opportunities to perform so as to prove their capabilities among the others (Bayl‐Smith and
Griffin, 2014). The employees or the candidates are not recruited, terminated at any point of
time, not appreciated for their hard work during the time of the promotions. It is also possible
that, employees are not given better training as well as benefits due to their religious beliefs.
Religious harassment can of different types such as passing offensive or hurtful remarks,
teasing, isolating the person etc leading to a bad work environment. These kind of behaviour
and treatment is not acceptable as it can harm the performance and growth of the
organization. The reason is that the discriminated people may not feel encouraged to give
their best by increasing the productivity and the performance of the firm in the competitive
world (Cortina, Kabat-Farr, Leskinen et al, 2013). So, from the case study, it can be seen
though Treton Communications Inc. firm follows and maintains anti-discrimination policies
but still an employee had to face religious discrimination from both the colleagues and the
seniors.

ISSUES AND PRACTICES IN HR MANAGEMENT 3
2. Is the company guilty of religious discrimination? Match the facts of the case to
the legal criteria.
Ans: Yes. The company Trenton Communications is guilty of religious discrimination. The
reason is that though the firm follows and stopped any kind of anti-discrimination cases but
still an employee named MarShawn DeMur also known as Maalick had to face religious
discrimination not only from his colleagues and the coworkers but also from one of his
seniors Mr. Jenkins badly. The employees and the higher officials clearly knew about the
anti-religious discrimination policies clearly but still they violated the rules and made fun of
the religious beliefs and transformation of Maalick. From the case study, it can be clearly
observed that Maalick was an African- American who was working effectively and
efficiently in the work. He was a religious person who was interested in the ideas of
International Spirituality and converted in that religion by taking a new name for himself
(Dean, Safranski and Lee,2014). After becoming the member of the International
Spirituality when he returned to the workplace, it can be observed that his colleagues and
coworkers were looking at him strangely and did not behaved with him properly. In spite of
replying to his conversation, they expressed their feeling in body language, made fun of him
and again started doing their assigned jobs. These kind of behavior and responses are illegal
according to the legal rules as he should be given proper respect in spite of having different
religious beliefs. From the study, it can also be noticed that his workplace was decorated with
various kinds of pin dolls, with hats, incense containers, strange symbols, letters etc. The
reason of keeping the things in his office is that the coworkers were not able to accept ad
respect his religious ideologies (Emerson and Murphy, 2014). Another reason of doing these
activities was to humiliate and to make him realize that he had done wrong by accepting the
religion.

ISSUES AND PRACTICES IN HR MANAGEMENT 4
3. Explain what is legally needed in order for racial harassment to exist.
Ans: Racial discrimination also known as racial harassment is a process by which a person
or a group of persons are treated badly or ignored based on their race, personality, color, body
language, gender etc. The idea of racial discrimination or harassment is not only present
within the society but also within the workplace among the employees. In the workplace, the
people are not only treated badly, they are mocked, not given equal rights and responsibilities
based on their abilities. Sometimes candidates are selected and hired based on their skin
color, race etc. and not on the qualifications, abilities, skills they have within themselves.
People are harassed badly, not given equal responsibilities, roles, positions etc. after working
hard and giving their best for the firm. People are not only abused verbally and physically but
are also tortured emotionally (Gebert, Boerner, Kearney et al, 2014). These kinds of things
can lead to offensive behavior of the person leading to development of the bad working
environment. The organization also has to suffer a lot as if the candidates are selected based
on their race, then it may be possible that the organization may lose good talents and skills.
The better talents and skills can help the firm to perform better in the changing business
environment and gain good success, growth and sustainability in the society. So, various
kinds of legal laws are prepared by both the government as well as by the management of the
organization. The main aim is to make sure that irrespective of their caste and race, the
employees get good opportunities to give their best for the firm without facing any kid s of
harassments (Ghumman, Ryan, Barclay and Markel, 2013). However, from the case study, it
is clear that the employee also had to face racial discrimination from the coworkers and the
senior official who appointed him in the company.

ISSUES AND PRACTICES IN HR MANAGEMENT 5
4. Is the company guilty of racial harassment? Match the facts of the case to the
legal criteria.
Ans: Yes. The firm Trenton Communications Inc is also guilty of racial harassment. It is
because in spite of having strong anti-discrimination rules to stop any kind of harassments,
the employee Maalick faced racial discrimination along with the religious discrimination
from both the colleagues, coworkers and the officer who hired him as the Operations
manager. Maalick, an African American was not only efficient and effective in his work
responsibilities but was also capable to take new responsibilities as well. The problem arose
when he accepted and joined the International Spirituality Church and changed his name.
After conversion, he was not only neglected, treated badly but was also gifted various kinds
of products related to the black magic, witch-craft etc. The reason is that many people within
the workplace believes that African people believes in black magic, use witch crafts etc. to
accomplish their wishes. Africa was also pictured badly filled with various kinds of strange
and uncommon symbols, letters etc. (Hagelskamp and Hughes, 2014). In the organization,
these kinds of behavior, fun etc. are illegal as it hurts the person’s sentiments, beliefs etc.
making difficult for him or her to give the best for the firm by completing the tasks
successfully. In another incident, Maalick applied for the system manager’s post so as to get
better opportunities in the career. He gave the interviewed but in spite of having all the
qualifications and better performance he was not selected for the post. The post was given to
the person who was the member of the Jenkin’s church. The decision was taken on the basis
of race and not on the qualifications of the person (Hudson, Puterman, Bibbins-Domingo et
al, 2013). In the third incident, various kinds of books on black magic chants, African Negro
etc. were kept in his desks which shows that coworkers had misconception about him which
can harm his performance.

ISSUES AND PRACTICES IN HR MANAGEMENT 6
5. Evaluate the actions of the HR director, Marta Ford, in response to Maalick’s
situation. What did she do well? What did she need to do better?
Ans: The HR director Marta Food not only followed the rules of the organization but also
ensured that others irrespective of their position and power also follows and obeys the rules
of the firm. She was helpful and assured Maalick that he would be able to accomplish his
duties well in spite of changing his name. Though Ford did not have much idea about
Maalick’s situation but as soon as she received the complaint of the later about the racial
harassment and religious discrimination, correct measures were taken. It is possible because
she is honest towards her responsibilities. Since, religious discrimination and racial
harassment were against the policies of the organization she took immediate measures to
problem with proper solutions. She not only conducted a meeting with all the departmental
heads of the organization but also explained them about the incidents (Okechukwu, Souza,
Davis and de Castro, 2014). She even mailed all the employees of the facility about the
incident and instructed them to follow and obey the policies of the organization. The
employees were also explained about the penalties related to these kinds of offences and
violation of laws. Due to her initiatives, the employees not got warnings from the
departmental heads but also improved their behavior with Maalick. However, still he was not
selected in the higher post so Ford reported the incident to Judith Judith Dixon, the Vice
President. From the case study, it can be seen that she performed her responsibilities actively
with efficiency. However, she would have been more active and taken steps to handle the
situation more wisely. She would also have informed the Vice President about the incident
before the interview of the new post as it would be easier to stop any kind of partiality
(Shih,Young and Bucher, 2013). The employees should be explained about their
responsibilities and the importance of organizational policies from time to time.

ISSUES AND PRACTICES IN HR MANAGEMENT 7
References
Bayl‐Smith, P. H. and Griffin, B. (2014). Age discrimination in the workplace: Identifying as
a late‐career worker and its relationship with engagement and intended retirement
age. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 44(9), 588-599.
Cortina, L. M., Kabat-Farr, D., Leskinen, E. A., Huerta, M. and Magley, V. J. (2013).
Selective incivility as modern discrimination in organizations: Evidence and
impact. Journal of Management, 39(6), 1579-1605.
Dean, K. L., Safranski, S. R. and Lee, E. S. (2014). Religious accommodation in the
workplace: understanding religious identity threat and workplace behaviors in legal
disputes. Employee responsibilities and rights journal, 26(2), 75-94.
Emerson, K. T. and Murphy, M. C. (2014). Identity threat at work: How social identity threat
and situational cues contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in the
workplace. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 20(4), 508.
Gebert, D., Boerner, S., Kearney, E., King Jr, J. E., Zhang, K. and Song, L. J. (2014).
Expressing religious identities in the workplace: Analyzing a neglected diversity
dimension. human relations, 67(5), 543-563.
Ghumman, S., Ryan, A. M., Barclay, L. A. and Markel, K. S. (2013). Religious
discrimination in the workplace: A review and examination of current and future
trends. Journal of Business and Psychology, 28(4), 439-454.
Hagelskamp, C. and Hughes, D. L. (2014). Workplace discrimination predicting racial/ethnic
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Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 20(4), 550.

ISSUES AND PRACTICES IN HR MANAGEMENT 8
Hudson, D. L., Puterman, E., Bibbins-Domingo, K., Matthews, K. A. and Adler, N. E.
(2013). Race, life course socioeconomic position, racial discrimination, depressive
symptoms and self-rated health. Social Science & Medicine, 97, 7-14.
Okechukwu, C. A., Souza, K., Davis, K. D. and de Castro, A. B. (2014). Discrimination,
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to occupational health disparities. American journal of industrial medicine, 57(5),
573-586.
Shih, M., Young, M. J. and Bucher, A. (2013). Working to reduce the effects of
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