A Brief Background on Racial Discrimination and Other Related Research

Fighting off discrimination has been one of the major concerns of the nation since the Industrial Revolution from 1750 to 1850. This had led to the creation of laws that basically uphold the rights of employees.

One of the most prevalent forms of discrimination is based on a person’s or group’s race. This is legally defined as the unfair treatment of an employee because of his or her race. Such maltreatment is strictly prohibited under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act as well as California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The provisions of these laws do not only apply to employees but to applicants as well.

The law prohibits the employer from doing the following actions against the employees:

• Terminating an employee due to race
• Refusal to hire
• Paying a worker less or providing them smaller benefits
• Failing to provide benefits
• Race misclassification based on race

Racial discrimination is also defined as separating people through social division into groups for the purpose of differential treatment. This is formalized through racial segregation policies, but is more often done without legalization.

In fact, in a study in 2004 conducted by researchers Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan of the University of Chicago and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), it was revealed that job applicants who have names that were perceived as sounding “black” were 50 percent less likely to receive callbacks for interviews than white-sounding names. This shows that there’s still widespread discrimination in U.S. employment.

Another study was made by Devah Pager, a sociologist at Princeton University. She sent matched pairs of applicants to apply for jobs in Milwaukee and New York City. The results showed that black applicants received half the rate of callbacks or job offers that were offered to equally qualified white applicants.

Incidentally, applicants and employees who experience discrimination are encouraged by the law to file for a formal complaint with the appropriate agency. If the maltreatment took place in California, then victims are suggested to seek the help of a Los Angeles employment discrimination lawyer. This professional fully knows the practical details of the complaint.