Religious discrimination case
I just read this case last night and I think it is an example of blatant religious discrimination. The employee claims that the employer frequently asked inappropriate questions during interviews in an attempt to find out the applicant's religious views and then would give preferential treatment to Christian applicants. A professor of social ethics comments in the article that explicit religious beliefs are similar to having a strong corporate culture: employees know what actions will benefit or harm them. Do you agree? Does encouraging a certain religious lifestyle compare to encouraging employees to follow cultural guidelines such as staying late at the office?
I also found it interesting (if not humorous) that the employer states "It's my company, I can run it the way I want." While I disagree with his hiring practices, it does make me question how much power a business owner should have in his hiring decisions. What do you think? Should he be able to "run it the way he wants"?
I also found it interesting (if not humorous) that the employer states "It's my company, I can run it the way I want." While I disagree with his hiring practices, it does make me question how much power a business owner should have in his hiring decisions. What do you think? Should he be able to "run it the way he wants"?
posted by Sara at
9:49 AM
1 Comments:
Often, people spend more time at work than they do at home. This means that a majority of our time as we get older is spent interacting with people that we do not necessarily choose. When I think of it that way, I think that employers should have the right to have a certain amount of say in who they hire and why they hire them, even if this is for personal reasons. People make judgements about other people all the time and are constantly operating with some sort of bias that colors the way in which they view the world. Human resource managers must hire people that fit with the company culture they want to create (or maintain), and to do this, they rely on skills but also personal judgements. I guess the problem here is that religious discrimination happens to be illegal. I imagine that the employee would much rather find a job elsewhere where he fits in better with the company culture. I also think that even if this employer gets away with religious discrimination, the company will be harmed in the end. The employee says that lesser skilled Christians are hired over more skilled non-Christians. That's just a bad business decision, so perhaps employment discrimination based too heavily on personal views (religious or any other) has an inherent detriment to the long-term viability of a company.
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