Research project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 1

Research project - Essay Example There are some organizational structures which propagate discrimination in workplaces and employees at lower status positions suffer the most from this social problem. From the 2008 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, EEOC statistics, the US posted a 15% increase in complaints related to workplace discrimination (Hammond, Gillen & Yen, 2010). Even so, these figures are much lower than the exact occurrences because minority group members always minimize such experiences and would be reluctant to file formal complaints. Therefore, workplace discrimination is a rampant social problem that needs critical understanding so as to determine effective solutions. America has a poor historical background on discrimination at workplace. As late as 1865, businesspeople were allowed to have slaves that they would use to run their business ventures, this being the period around the Industrial Revolution. As late as the mid twentieth century, no laws were in force to deter prejudice and harassment in workplace (National Archives, 2015). However, 1964 saw the turning point to such treatment with the civil rights legislation which required that workplaces be open to all their employees regardless of their race. This gave birth to the regulation of all the other forms of discriminations at workplace. With the changes on laws against discrimination at workplace, the discrimination practice in workplace has arguably dropped than it was during the Industrial Revolution. According to the National Archives (2015), the Public Law 88-352 (78 Stat. 241) passed by the Congress in 1964 prohibited discrimination at workplace based on race and sex. This was later expanded to include color, religion and national origin. In Title VII of this Civil Rights Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was created to realize the law. The role of EEOC was subsequently expanded and now includes enforcement of federal statutes which prohibit all discriminatory practices at