In the modern era, workplace discrimination can sometimes be difficult to identify. Most business owners know that discriminating on the basis of race is illegal, for example, or that they can’t have qualifications about people following a certain religion. As strange as it may sound today, these were historically points for very blatant discrimination in hiring and other areas.
The laws have been changed, however, so this type of discrimination is illegal on the grounds that it is a violation of the person’s rights. This makes some people think that it no longer happens. But an interesting experiment has shown just how often it does still happen, even if it is far harder to detect than it would have been in a previous decade.
Altering a resume
The experiment in question is one where applicants would “whitewash” their resumes by getting rid of any reference to key information, such as their race. They would then either leave this information out or change it so that they appeared not to be part of a minority group.
This could go beyond simply not listing their ethnicity. In some cases, they were worried that employers may be discriminating against them based on things like their name or clubs they were part of in college. They tried to take out any information that could be used to discern details about them that may relate to these areas of their identity.
Unfortunately, what happened is that the whitewashed resumes tended to get far more responses from employers. And that raises questions about just how fair businesses are being when screening these resumes. If someone can get an interview when they list their name as Derrick but they can’t get one when they list their name as DeShawn, even though all other qualifications are the same, is that employer trying to screen applicants in an illegal manner?
What are your options?
Employees who feel they have been discriminated against in any way need to make sure that they know about all of the legal options at their disposal. Remember that all workers are supposed to have an equal opportunity in the United States.