Question I

Identify and discuss how workplace discrimination undermine company’s effectiveness. You
are required to identify the key biological characteristics and how they are relevant to the case.
How would you have done differently if you are in the position to change the hiring policy?

Answer
Discrimination is treating someone unfairly because of a personal characteristics such as race,
gender, age or sexual orientation. Discrimination can happen because human brain naturally
puts things in categories to make sense of the world. For an instance, young children quickly
learn the difference between boys and girls. But the values we place on these categories are
self-developed. When developed wrongly, people might discriminate against one another. As
known, discrimination is not a new thing. It can happen to anyone at any time, with no
exception when in the workplace. Workplace discrimination occurs when an individual is
adversely discriminated against due to a number of factors. In this case, we are going to analyze
workplace discrimination based on key biological characteristics, which are age, sex, race and
ethnicity, disabilities, and hidden disabilities.

CASE STUDY
Company : Abercrombie & Fitch
Discrimination cases :
1. Age

Abercrombie & Fitch has always portrayed themselves in a youthful image. It describes itself
as a retailer of men’s and women’s casual clothing, such as t-shirts, outer wear, sweat-shirts,
sweaters, jeans, shorts, belts, socks, and other accessories designed primarily to appeal to
young men and women of college age. However, diversity in the workplace is inevitable.
Abercrombie’s employees come from numerous range of ages, from younger to older workers.
If the company’s employees are brand representatives, licensing themselves as a brand for the
“youthful All-American lifestyle” will naturally exclude older workers. And it is proven true
as each and every brand representative employee model pictured in Abercrombie’s guide­lines
is considerably young. Also, the guide-lines explained that managers are to only hire employees
that are “projecting an energic, dynamic, vigorous and lively personality.” Employees at
Abercrombie must be “extroverted, fun, friendly, active, and social.” These required
characteristics certainly have the feel of discrimination against older workers. Not only that,

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Abercrombie’s website, the main picture under the “employment diversity” section appears
more suited for young applicants rather than encouraging applications from qualified older
workers, thus making us even more certain that direct and indirect stereotyping against older
workers is prevalent at the company.

*A&F website’s main page portraying young men and women

*A&F’s promise and commitment to ensure diversity and inclusion of both employees and
customers

2. Sex

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Discrimination based on gender or sex is the most common practice that can be found in the
workplace. For years in the past, the stigma that women should not work in the office and
should stay at home instead has been instilled in society’s mindset. Nowadays, we can see a lot
of career women who work as breadwinners for their families. However, the truth is that the
line of distinction between men and women is never completely erased.

A sex discrimination case at Abercrombie occurred at 2015. The Supreme Court ruled in a
favor of a Muslim woman who was denied a job at the company because she wore a religious
headscarf, or so-called, hijab, during her interview. Samantha Elauf initially applied for a
position as a model at the Abercrombie Kids store in Tulsa, Okla.

Apparently, Abercrombie has a “look policy” that prohibits employees from wearing black
clothing and “caps” and appraise its job applicants based on their dress. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) argued that Abercrombie violated Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act by undermining Elauf’s religious beliefs.

This is a case involving more than just gender discrimination, but also religious beliefs.

Another prevalent issue regarding sex discrimination in Abercrombie comes from employee
wages. It turned out that female employees are given lesser salaries and incentives compared
to the male ones.

3. Race and Ethnicity

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It is evident that every individual comes from different race and ethnicity. Nine young adults
who felt discriminated based on their race had filed a suit against Abercrombie, claiming that
they have practiced discrimination against African-American, Latino and Asian American
applicants and employees. Abercrombie refused to hire qualified minority applicants as Brand
Representatives working on the sales floor while discouraging applications from minority
candidates. When minorities were finally hired, they were given undesirable positions like
cashier or cleaning service, to hide them from the public eye. There are occasions when people
of color are recruited as Abercrombie models. However a black model confessed, “we were
sent home an hour early before their shifts ended.” This shows how Abercrombie is heavily
biased to recruiting employees who are white Americans, thus discriminating applicants of
different races and ethnics.

*Abercrombie’s models are seen to mostly comprise of white American males

4. Disabilities

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) classifies a person as

disabled who has any physical or mental impairment.

Riam Dean, a 22-year-old law student who was paid £6.50 an hour by Abercrombie, was
removed from the shop floor at the firm's Savile Row branch when management knew of her
disability. Dean was born without her left forearm. She told the company about her disability
after getting the job, and they agreed she could wear a cardigan to cover the link between her

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prosthesis and her upper arm. Shortly after, she was told she could not work on the shop floor
unless she took off the cardigan as she was breaking the firm's "look policy". The A&F head
office suggested that she stay in the stockroom "until the winter uniform arrives". This
treatment has made Dean felt devastated as she confessed, “I had been bullied out of my job.
It was the lowest point in my life. Her words pierced right through the armour of 20 years of
building up personal confidence, that I am much more than a girl with only one arm." Dean
filed a law suit regarding her disability discrimination to the Supreme Court and won. She was
awarded £7,800 compensation for injury to her feelings, £1,077 for loss of earnings, and £136
damages. But deep down inside, we know that her bruised pride can never be compensated
with anything materialistic.

Aside from discriminating disabled workers, Abercrombie has also been reported of
discrimination against disabled customers. In 2009, two Colorado Abercrombie stores were
sued because their entryways and sales counters are not accessible to people in wheelchairs.
Visitors to the Hollister stores in Colorado who were in wheelchairs say that they could not get
into the store because there was no wheelchair access. Instead of entering through the front
door, disabled customers were required to enter through a side door. Despite the fact that
Abercrombie has argued that the side doors are wheelchair accessible, reports told that the side
entrances are often blocked with merchandise inside the store.

5. Hidden disabilities

Example of hidden disabilities are sensory disabilities, chronic illness or pain, cognitive or
learning impairments, sleep disorders, and psychological challenges.

It is reported that employees who are equipped with hidden disabilities, for example mentally-
illed workers are also being discriminated against by fellow colleagues in the workplace. These
employees are people who can get extra hyped, suffering from attention deficit, depression,
and even schizophrenia (imagining things). Often, they become an easy target of bullying in
the office as they are different from the others. For example, name calling like ‘weirdo’ or
‘freak’ is nothing new to them. They are constantly being bullied and we know for sure it is
never appropriate for anyone to experience that anywhere, not just in the workplace.

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Conclusion

All in all, workplace discrimination has undermined company’s effectiveness as a company

could only run well when it is surrounded by a healthy environment of both workers and
customers. There’s no way a company could run well without both of the most prominent actors.
When employees are treated fairly and equally in the workplace, it will increase their job
satisfaction thus improving their job performance. The reason behind is basically just because
they love their jobs and where they work at, the company. The same goes for customers. When
they feel their needs can be fulfilled no matter what background they may come from, they will
surely come back for future purchases. With that, company could surely grow and flourish
effectively.

If I were in charge of changing the hiring policy, I would :

1. Implement a comprehensive anti-discrimination policy

In other words, company should concentrate on targeted recruitment strategies when hiring
employees, rather than contemplating whether to accept someone or not based on his/her
personal background profiles. A company should accept new hires based on one’s quality and
eligibility, instead of his/her age, sex, race, sexual orientation, or any other factor.

Interviewers should avoid questions that relate to characteristics that are protected by
discrimination laws. Following are the types of questions that should be avoided during the
interview :

 Whether the applicant has children or intends to have children.

 Marital status of applicant.
 Applicant's race.
 Applicant's religion.
 Applicant's sexual preference.
 Applicant's age (other than inquiring whether she/he is over the age of 18).
 Whether applicant suffers from a disability.
 Applicant's citizenship status.
 Questions concerning drug or alcohol used by the applicants.

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2. Introduce the importance of preserving diversity within the company

Company should remind future employees about the importance of diversity that is going to be
upheld in the workplace. Employees will definitely look up to their employers. Thus,
employers should portray a good example of respecting and accepting differences. This way,
employees will learn from them and implement this good behavior towards their fellow
colleagues in the office.

3. Promoting equal opportunity in the workplace

In addition to developing the right policy for the company, employers should also establish a
process for resolving complaints of discrimination that rise in the workplace. This way, it will
leave hired employees rest-assured that the company they work at actually cares for acts of
discrimination and will do anything to fix them.

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References
Abercrombie&Fitch. (n.d.). Retrieved 10 October, 2018, from abercrombie.com:
https://www.abercrombie.com/shop/wd/whats-
new?icmp=ICT%3AHOL18%3AD%3AFN%3A0%3ALP%3ACAM%3Ax%3ADoLi
fe

Kuhn, B. (2013, May 23). Does Abercrombie & Fitch discriminate against disabled people?
Retrieved 10 October, 2018, from bryankuhnlaw.com:
https://www.bryankuhnlaw.com/blog/2013/05/does-abercrombie-fitch-discriminate-
against-disabled-people.shtml

Liptak, A. (2015, June 1). Muslim Woman Denied Job Over Head Scarf Wins in Supreme
Court. Retrieved 11 October, 2018, from nytimes.com:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/us/supreme-court-rules-in-samantha-elauf-
abercrombie-fitch-case.html

Mohamedbhai, R. (2013, October 8). A Case of Older Worker Discrimination at Abercrombie

& Fitch? Retrieved 11 October, 2018, from rmlawyers.com:
https://www.rmlawyers.com/a-case-of-older-worker-discrimination-at-abercrombie-
fitch/

Topping, A. (2009, August 13). Disabled worker wins case for wrongful dismissal against
Abercrombie & Fitch. Retrieved 11 October, 2018, from theguardian.com:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2009/aug/13/abercrombie-fitch-employee-case-
damages