Posted by Marissa Aniolowski.
These two articles both address the same issue that occur in two different companies. This issue is sexual discrimination. In the first article, a woman accuses AutoNation of promoting a male over her solely because she is a female. The second article, addresses the issue of gender pay in the company Oracle. As a female business student, I am concerned about being a woman in the business world because of issues like these.
In the first article, Jaqueline de la Torre filed a complaint about AutoNation because when the Parts Manager position opened up, AutoNation immediately hired a male despite the fact that they had a female Assistant Parts Manager who had been on the job for 10 years and was more than qualified to be promoted. According to De la Torre she was told they “needed a man” for the position, and she was then required to teach the new Parts Manager how to do his job because he was previously a sales associate at the dealership. Because the company failed to promote her, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing AutoNation for violating Title VII and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As a female, I would defend De la Torre’s side because I know women are just as capable as men are. It is a difficult accusation to prove, but women are undermined in the work world, and that needs to change.
In the second article, three women in the senior product development role are accusing Oracle of paying their male colleagues in the same position more money. The article states, “It’s the third time this year that Oracle has been in the news around pay discrimination. In January, the U.S. Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against Oracle claiming the company systematically pays its white male workers more than women, and men of color.” The women’s lawyer is still searching for evidence to support their claim, but their lawyer, “says he wants to file a class action lawsuit that would cover some 1,200 women at Oracle.” How you prove the company is paying the white men more money than the rest of the workers based solely on their gender and color is a difficult task to prove, but why issues like this are still occurring is concerning. How long will it take people to realize that men, women, and people of different races are all capable of doing the same work, and the diversity will only help companies grow?
In many businesses, discrimination is still currently a big issue. It is an issue nationwide, outside the business realm that needs to be fixed, and should no longer be tolerated. The issues with these cases is finding enough evidence to support the claims and prove that they have been discriminate. The great strides that have been made to equality of race and gender are not something to ignore, but in today’s day and age, any person should not tolerate discrimination.
Marissa is a student at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2020.
Sources:
EEOC sues AutoNation for alleged sex discrimination
https://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2017/10/02/eeoc-sues-autonation-for-alleged-sex.html
Oracle faces possible class-action lawsuit over gender pay discrimination
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2017/10/02/oracle-gender-pay-discrimination-lawsuit-orcl-goog.html