Have you ever seen a co-employee or workmate at your company experiencing discrimination at workplace because of a disability? Did someone ever treat you unfairly at work because of a certain disadvantage or handicap? If your answer to these questions is a resounding yes and you would want to do something about it, then this article is for you.
Everybody wants to be accepted. Wherever we may be located in the world, we as humans have the basic need to belong. We love to be able to feel that we are part of something and that we are accepted for what and who we are.
However, there are certain groups of people in our society that we may consider as special due to certain special needs. We usually see them having their own special queues in public places or when availing of public services. We may usually refer to them as the PWDs or persons with disabilities.
Despite modern companies boasting of offering equal opportunity employment, there are still the inevitable cases of discrimination against persons with disabilities.What we want to be able to achieve is to avoid having these discrimination incidents in the workplace so that our companies would truly be considered as a great place to work.
Defining Discrimination
So what is discrimination? Discrimination has been defined by moral philosophers as a disadvantageous treatment or consideration. The victim of discrimination does not necessarily need to be actually harmed but just need to be treated worse than others for some arbitrary reason.
The word discriminate first appeared in the English language during the early part of the 17th century. Coming from the Latin verb discrimire, which means “to separate, to distinguish, or to make a distinction”, we can see that the word was not initially meant to inflict damage or put the subject at a disadvantageous position. However, since the American civil war, the word has evolved to mean prejudicial treatment against individuals that are part of an undesirable group.
Defining Disability
Disability is defined as a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities. Broadly defined, it not only includes the physical and mental but it also covers intellectual, psychiatric, sensory, neurological, and learning disabilities. Even physical disfigurement and the presence of disease causing organisms (like the HIV virus) are also included.
Some practical tips on how to avoid discrimination at work
HR practitioners need to be really wary of this. Persons with disability do not normally have the audacity to speak up for themselves especially if they are the ones that are victimized by discrimination. Hence, there is a need for the HR in every company to have the right policies that would help protect the people with disabilities from being discriminated against in the workplace. It would be important to avoid discrimination at work by following some of these simple tips.
- Familiarize yourself with all the anti-discrimination laws
It would be helpful to be aware of the laws being implemented in your country regarding protection for disability discrimination. Take note that federal laws and state laws need to be taken into consideration since it can vary based on your location.
- Have an anti-discrimination policy at your workplace
There should be a comprehensive house policy prohibiting discrimination at your workplace. It must be made clear in these anti-discrimination policies as to what behaviors are not tolerated. Filing incident reports and disciplinary action for non-compliance must be defined as well in these policies. It should be expressed in a clear and concise language that must be easily understood by all employees.
Periodic review of these policies must also be done to ensure that it is updated to adjust with changes in the law or with business objectives.
- Develop and implement mandatory anti-discrimination training programs
Anti-discrimination programs must be included as part of your company’s learning management system. The employee training platform must include an orientation regarding these policies ensuring that the policies being instituted are put into practice.
These training must be done periodically and may be done online as part of the online training courses being offered by your company. Employees need to sign acknowledgements on their attendance signifying that they have understood and will adapt to the policy.
- Encourage employees to report incidents of discrimination and be prepared to investigate these incidents
Having a hotline or an action center to receive and address these complaints is necessary in order for these discriminatory acts to be documented and dealt upon immediately when it happens.
- Review internal business decisions for any unintentional discriminatory processes
Reviewing some internal business processes, like the job hiring process, for any potentially disadvantageous processes for the disabled might be necessary. This is because there might be some processes that were initially thought to be neutral but turned out to put disabled but capable work candidates at a disadvantage. You may need to seek the counsel of some experienced employment consultants in order to ensure that everything is covered.
The war against discrimination may be a steep slope but with constant fighting at the right battles and by consistently being successful, the small wins can turn into big victories. We just surely need to keep at it ensuring that persons with disabilities are being treated rightly at the workplace.
Kathy Amato
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