Assignment 1 Workforce Diversity and the Law

________________________________________________________________________ Assignment 1 Guidelines: Assignment 1 is worth 25 points Assignment 1 must be typed - either single or double space is acceptable Proper grammar/sentence structure will be evaluated by the instructor Responses for each question listed below must be at least 50 words long (per question) While completing the assignment, each of the 4 questions must be (1) clearly restated/acknowledged in the paper (using bold print) and then (2) followed by the students response (to each question). Clearly acknowledging each question will ensure that the four required questions of the assignment have been answered and assist the instructor in locating the students response to each question ________________________________________________________________________ Workforce diversity includes people with various characteristics and from various groups. At the same time, federal antidiscrimination laws (or U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity laws) provide protection from employment discrimination for specific characteristics/groups: race, color, religion, national origin, gender, disability and age (people over 40 years old). Recognizing the various definitions of diversity and the legally protected characteristics/groups, respond to the following: (1) Diversity is not just about differences, but also includes similarities- why is this true? Should non-disabled, young white males be included or excluded from the definition of workforce diversity and why? (2) What other characteristics/groups (characteristics/groups not currently protected) do you believe should be protected by federal law from employment discrimination and why? (3) What characteristics/groups currently protected by federal law from employment discrimination should be excluded (because the protected status is not necessary) and why? (4) Should there be status-blind laws (to replace existing federal antidiscrimination laws) which would prohibit employment discrimination against any employee, regardless of his/her status, race, gender, age, etc.? Why do you believe this?