Unintentional Discrimination

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights act of 1964, the practices of Employment Discrimination were targeted and countermanded by new legislation which was overseen by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Amongst the practices targeted by the EEOC is the practice of Unintentional Discrimination. While intentional discrimination blatantly bars a demographic from equal opportunity for employment, Unintentional Discrimination involves that which many not appear biased on the surface, but may still create and unbalanced and unfair work environment.

One of the most common forms of Unintentional Discrimination in the workplace is the practice of employee referral. When businesses choose to hire their employees strictly or mostly based on referrals from existing employees, they may create a lack of diversity in the workplace as well as an un-level playing field for other individuals outside the office's main demographic. For example, if an office is predominantly staffed by white Americans, the strict policy of employee referral may restrict other's who are not part of the employees' social circles from equal opportunity in employment. As the employees in the hypothetical office may not have regulated levels of diversity in their respective social circles, they may not refer a diverse group of employees to the office when new positions are available. According to some, this creates an unbalanced work environment by perpetuating a cycle of hires from the same social groups.

In the aforementioned case of the hypothetical office, the EEOC may find the office manager guilty of employment discrimination should a minority have attempted to secure employment and been unable to do so due to their inability to receive a referral from someone in the company.

It is for these reasons that employers are advised to oversee and consider these possibilities when dealing with fair employment in hiring standards and practices. For these reasons, attorneys encourage employers to advertise all employment positions in public domains, as well as post only job-related job requirements. Any requirement that can be seen as non "mission critical" by the EEOC can result in a charge of Unintentional Discrimination. For example, classified ads looking for "young, energetic candidates" may constitute age discrimination and later be judged as unintentional or intentional based on questioning of the prospective employer.