Introduction
Labor legislation is essential for regulating such a process as dismissal. Moreover, it is necessary to control the legality of actions on the part of both the employer and the employee. The establishment of offenses is needed to streamline the labor process and settle conflicts. Disparate impact and disparate treatment are a manifestation of illegal discrimination of employers against employees. This assignment states these two concepts, their difference, other legal issues which are relevant in the situation, and the advising conclusion.
Disparate Impact and Treatment
The disparate impact is a negative impact on a particular segment of the population more than any other, even if the general rules are neutral. Such a violation can be proved if the employer disproportionately affects people, thereby treating them unfavorably. For example, testing will intentionally exclude some applicants who belong to social minorities, which is a disproportionate impact (Hehmeyer, 2020). Thus, this theory prohibits the use of externally neutral employment practices that adversely affect a particular group of people. This practice seems uninterested at first glance, but it belittles the rights of people and is discriminatory.
Disparate treatment and disparate impact are a manifestation of discrimination on the part of the employer. It is the most common type of discrimination and is expressed in unequal behavior and deliberate discrimination in hiring or testing employees (Hehmeyer, 2020). For example, when trying workers for reaction, older people may not get into the norms, and this will be discrimination against older workers if a quick response is not required for work. Thus, disparate treatment is deliberate discrimination of employees to obtain the employers’ benefits.
In this situation, disparate treatment applies, as the company’s president wants to dismiss highly paid, high-ranking older employees deliberately. She explains this by saying that they are not as productive and skilled as the recruits. She is also concerned that long-term employees will soon retire. In this case, we are discussing deliberate discrimination against older employees to dismiss them. This is proved that it is planned to dismiss one hundred and twenty-five employees from the age group over fifty and only seventy-five from the rest.
Other Legal Issues
Section seven of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, national origin, religion, or sexual orientation. According to this law, “an employer may not refuse to hire or dismiss anyone or otherwise discriminate against any person concerning his remuneration, conditions or privileges of employment” (Labor Laws and Issues, 2022). Another law that may be involved in this topic is the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. This law restores protection against claims of wage discrimination based on gender, race, national origin, age, religion, and disability.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a verbal agency that considers disputes that are somehow related to discrimination in hiring, including discrimination based on age and disability. This commission has adopted special regulations with the help of which it determines the order of activity and the requirements imposed on it by law (Labor Laws and Issues, 2022). Also, this body explains particular recommendations to employers on the application of discrimination laws. These recommendations were developed by the EEOC and are included in the Rulebook of the US Federal Government.
The Law on the Prevention of Age Discrimination was adopted in 1967. This law aims to assist in the employment of older persons. This law specifies that more senior employees are such if they have reached the age of 40. Initially, the frames from 40 to 65 years were created, but in 1978 changes were introduced, and the edges became 40 to 70 years.
Chapter 14 of Title 29 of the US Code of Laws establishes the following actions as illegal:
- Refusal to hire, dismissal, or other discriminatory actions due to the age of an individual.
- Restriction, isolation, or grouping of employees who are hired for work, which prevents employment for an employee due to his age.
- Understating the salary of any employee due to his age.
Conclusion
Given the current legislation, I would advise the company’s President to conduct testing. The test must be created in such a way that its results correspond to the qualities that are necessary to perform this work. At the same time, establishing strict rules for evaluating this test could reveal the discrepancy in the abilities of many workers, including older generation workers. In this case, it will be possible to legally dismiss one hundred and twenty-five employees of the older generation and seventy-five employees of the remaining population. Since the test will be able to identify inconsistencies that are necessary to perform this work. Thus, the laws on discrimination against older workers will not be considered, which means they cannot be applied in this case.
This strategy is justified and necessary, as it meets all the requests of the President of the company. All actions become legal since the rights of older workers are not violated. Moreover, there is a reasonable and lawful reason for dismissing part of the staff employees, meeting the requirements. According to the results of a properly created test, it becomes possible to reduce the staff of employees to find recruiters who can be trained and who are more productive and younger.
References
Hehmeyer, R. L. (2020). What Is the Difference Between Disparate Impact and Disparate Treatment Discrimination? Rayneslaw. Web.
Labor Laws and Issues | USAGov. (2022). Usa.gov. Web.