EEODataNet Newsletter

Welcome to this month’s EEODataNet Newsletter! We look forward to further collaboration, and will be sharing more information on this on our upcoming website.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN THE NEWS

“Top Female Players Accuse U.S. Soccer of Wage Discrimination”

The New York Times. March 31, 2016. By Andrew Das

U.S. Soccer, the governing body for the sport in America, pays the members of the men’s and women’s national teams who represent the United States in international competitions. The men’s team has historically been mediocre. The women’s team has been a quadrennial phenomenon, winning world and Olympic championships and bringing much of the country to a standstill in the process. Citing this disparity, as well as rising revenue numbers, five players on the women’s team filed a federal complaint, accusing U.S. Soccer of wage discrimination because, they said, they earned as little as 40 percent of what players on the United States men’s national team earned even as they marched to the team’s third World Cup championship last year. The five players, some of the world’s most prominent women’s athletes, said they were being shortchanged on everything from bonuses to appearance fees to per diems.

“HB2 Law Strips Employees’ Right to Sue Over Any Discrimination in NC”

HCPress.com. March 28, 2016. By Kirk Ross

The legislation pushed through North Carolina’s General Assembly last week, ostensibly over Charlotte public restroom policy, eliminates a key legal right for workers that has been in place in the state for three decades, according to lawyers who specialize in workplace discrimination cases and discussed the new law with Carolina Public Press. The Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, also called House Bill 2, passed Wednesday in less than 10 hours during a special session of the state legislature, was aimed at reversing moves by Charlotte to expand the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance.

“Lockheed Martin Granted Summary Judgement in Employment Discrimination Action”

PennRecord.com. March 25, 2016. By Nicholas Malfitano

A federal appeals court has upheld an order of summary judgment for Lockheed Martin in the case of a former employee who filed suit against the aerospace and defense contractor for employment discrimination and retaliation. Shawn Merke, an African-American, Senior Engineering Manager and former Lockheed Martin employee of 29 years, filed suit against the company in December 2012 after he felt he had been retaliated and discriminated against, and wrongly terminated, thereby violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA).
In his role, Merke led a team of engineers in the Spatial Solutions (S2) unit and worked closely with program managers – but feedback in his performance reviews showed a disconnect between Merke and his team members, and management suggested Merke find another role in the company which didn’t involve supervising others.

“Black Woman Engineer Launches ‘Blind’ Job Match App to Take Bias Out of Tech Hiring”

Forbes. March 3, 2016. By Clare O’Connor

Stephanie Lampkin is set to launch a job matching tool aimed at removing just that sort of lingering doubt from the tech sector job hunt. Her app Blendoor lets job seekers upload resumes, then hides their name and photo from employers. The idea, says Lampkin, is to circumvent unconscious bias by removing gender and ethnicity from the equation. Blendoor will go live on March 11th at this year’s SXSW digital festival for public beta testing. So far, Lampkin has had buy-in from 19 large tech firms. She aims to have 50 on the app in the near future.

Please inform us of any equal employment opportunities media appearances for future newsletters.

NEW SCHOLARLY JOURNAL ARTICLES

Pereira, H., & Costa, P. A. (2016). Modeling the impact of social discrimination on the physical and mental health of Portuguese gay, lesbian and bisexual people.Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 1-13.

Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13511610.2016.1157683

Abstract: Despite growing acceptance of same-sex sexuality in Portugal, identity development of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals is still restricted by negative societal attitudes, which maintain the experience of stigmatization and discrimination. The purpose of this study is to document the frequency of discriminatory events experienced by sexual minorities and their association with indicators of physical and mental health in Portugal.Physical and mental health results revealed that bisexual people were more likely to report higher levels of psychological distress than gay men. Overall, between one-fifth and one-fourth of the participants in this sample frequently felt the need to hide their sexual orientation to prevent discrimination experiences across the different settings. Regarding actual discrimination experiences, close to 20% reported having suffered from verbal abuse, followed by close to 10% who suffered from written threats, harassment, and physical threats. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the effects of anticipated and actual discrimination on mental health.

Park, Y., Seo, D. G., Park, J., Bettini, E., & Smith, J. (2016). Predictors of job satisfaction among individuals with disabilities: An analysis of South Korea's National Survey of employment for the disabled.Research in developmental disabilities,53, 198-212.

Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0891422216300294

Abstract:

This study aims to explore the influences of personal, vocational, and job environment related factors that are associated with job satisfaction of individuals with disabilities in South Korea. Data for wage-based working employees from a nationwide survey were obtained, which resulted in a total number of 417 participants. The six hypotheses and mediation effects of personal and work related environmental factors were tested using thestructural equation modelingdrawn from existing research evidence. Results revealed that (a) life satisfaction and job related environments directly influenced job satisfaction; (b) the relationship between personal experience and job satisfaction was mediated by life satisfaction for both mild/moderate and severe/profound disabilities group; and (c) the mediating role of job environment between vocational preparedness and job satisfaction was only observed for individuals with mild/moderate disabilities. Summary of findings and implications for future research and practices are discussed.

Marcus, J., & Fritzsche, B. A. (2016). The Cultural Anchors of Age Discrimination in the Workplace: A Multilevel Framework.Work, Aging and Retirement, waw007.

Available at: https://workar.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/03/21/workar.waw007.full

Abstract:

Drawing from theories in both the social and cross-cultural psychology domains, this article provides a theoretical framework that specifies the mechanisms by which age and culture interact to predict age discrimination, across multiple levels of culture, including societal, organizational, and individual levels of analyses. The prime facets of culture that are most relevant to discrimination in the workplace are identified. These facets of cultural values are then theoretically linked to age discrimination in the workplace as they are postulated to occur across levels, independently and in tandem. A theoretical model and research propositions are presented. Implications for research on age discrimination in the workplace are discussed.

Johansen, M., & Zhu, L. (2016). Who Values Diversity? Comparing the Effect of Manager Gender Across the Public, Private, and Nonprofit Sectors.The American Review of Public Administration, 0275074016634201.

Available at: http://arp.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/02/24/0275074016634201.abstract

Abstract:

Researchers have focused on the role of managerial gender on attitudes toward diversity issues mainly in either the public or private sector, but there is little research that compares managerial attitudes on diversity across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. This article identifies important distinctions among the sectors that may influence gender differences in managerial priority placed on diversity. Using a national survey of nearly 1,000 top-level managers in public, private, and nonprofit hospitals in the United States, we analyze how managerial gender combined with cross-sector differences shape managerial priority on diversity. We find female managers place a higher priority on diversity than their male counterparts in nonprofit and private organizations compared with managers in public organizations. The differing effects of managerial gender on the priority placed on diversity are shaped by the organizational contexts of the three sectors. This research provides systematic evidence of sector differences in the patterns of managerial priorities regarding diversity.

Please inform us of any new equal employment opportunities journal articles for future newsletters.

REQUEST FOR METADATA FOR FORTHCOMING EEODATANET WEBSITE

We are still looking for metadata contributions for the forthcoming EEODataNet website. One goal of the website is to ease the use of EEO data through organizing a collection of metadata. This will greatly help our research community. If you have metadata (e.g. methods memos, codebooks, tricky computer code) you would like to share, even if it is not yet in the format you would want to share, please contact us.

EEODATANET Project team:

Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Sociology, UMASS Amherst

Fidan Kurtulus,Economics,UMASS Amherst

Lee Badgett, Economics and Public Policy, UMASS Amherst

Devika Dutt, Project Research Assistant

Ron Edwards, Director Program Research and Surveys Division

Creating a network of EEOC scholars

Developing ideas for research and enforcement

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