[Crack workplace discrimination and promote equal employment 5] The cost of illegal employment discrimination should be higher
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Faced with the challenge of employment discrimination to workers' fair employment, all sectors of society generally believe that it is necessary to forcefully address the symptoms and effectively address the root causes.
In addition to the law, relevant departments, society, employers, etc. should also form a multi-party synergy.
The improvement of social systems such as childbirth and the government's implementation of corresponding labor cost compensation for enterprises are feasible strategies.
"Because I was rejected because it was not a double-first-class school, I had to endure the obvious academic discrimination." "What if I won the lawsuit? I only pay 2,000 yuan, and I don't even have an apology. I feel even more aggrieved." Faced with all kinds of discriminatory behaviors in the process of job-seeking and performance of duties, although there are clear legal prohibitions, workers have their own difficulties.
Eliminating the unreasonable restrictions on employment is full of obstacles, and creating a fair employment environment for workers urgently requires good strategies.
To stop employment discrimination, who should fight?
There are strong voices from all walks of life in this regard.
The "truth" behind repeated bans
"985, 211 college graduates are given priority", "only those under 35 years old are recruited", "hepatitis B carriers will not be hired"... Why is the law clearly stipulated that some employers still secretly set various discriminatory restrictions in recruitment ?
"The labor market is oversupplied, and employers are picky."
The person in charge of the human resources department of a company in Chengdu told reporters that with the overall development and upgrading of the company, more outstanding talents are needed as support, and the threshold for recruitment has also been raised. "The recruitment market has millions of college graduates every year. , the exclusion method will definitely be more efficient.”
"Workers' equal employment rights are realized in reality by relying on employers. This is a process of mutual recognition, not one-way imposition."
Li Kai, associate professor of the Law School of Southwest University for Nationalities, pointed out that it is understandable for employers to set certain thresholds and conditions when recruiting according to the nature of their units and the actual situation of their positions, but if the thresholds or conditions set by employers during recruitment are discriminatory, it constitutes a "Abuse of rights", its behavior should be corrected and punished accordingly.
In the real workplace ecological environment, the contradiction presented by gender discrimination is the most prominent.
"If you hire a female worker who is married and have no children, who will take over the job after pregnancy and childbirth? If you hire another person, who will bear the extra labor costs?" A manager of the personnel department of a small, medium and micro enterprise told reporters that the company The helplessness behind "hiring men but not women".
"The primary root cause of employment discrimination is economic reasons, and the second is the result of attitudes and prejudices."
Shen Jianfeng, dean of the Law School of the China Institute of Labor Relations, believes that in order to protect specific employers, the law will make special provisions for their vacations and overtime restrictions, which will increase the pressure on employers to manage their employment.
For companies pursuing profit maximization, this group of workers will naturally be excluded.
In addition, some traditional vulgar customs or concepts will also make employers treat certain groups of workers with prejudice, thus causing employment discrimination.
The cost of breaking the law should be higher
During interviews with reporters, we found that the general public and job seekers show great tolerance for employment discrimination, some of which are due to the blurred boundaries and misunderstandings of enterprises’ autonomy in employment; , there are very few active rights defenders.
"Currently, the protection of rights in this field is mainly about self-relief of laborers. Relatively weak laborers fight against more powerful employers, and the result is often ended in laborers losing their lawsuits."
Wang Bei, a professor at Sichuan University Law School, said that the loss of the laborer's lawsuit will have a pass-through effect, causing other laborers who have suffered the same situation to give up the idea of rights protection due to concerns about the high cost of rights protection and the poor effect of rights protection. , the more reckless the company will be.”
"In terms of anti-employment discrimination, there are deficiencies in our laws."
Wang Enhui, executive director of Sichuan Weixu Law Firm, told the "Workers Daily" reporter that although Article 26 of my country's Employment Promotion Law stipulates that employers recruit personnel and occupational intermediaries to engage in occupational intermediary activities, they should provide equal employment opportunities to workers. and fair employment conditions, employment discrimination shall not be implemented, and if it is pointed out in Article 62 that employment discrimination is violated in violation of the provisions of this law, the laborer may file a lawsuit in the people's court.
"These are only advocacy and principled regulations, and lack clear and detailed regulations on the content, nature, judgment standards, legal responsibilities, etc. of employment discrimination. In reality, it is difficult to operate and implement, and the binding force is limited."
There have been public cases showing that when a post-90s girl was applying for a job as a courier, after multiple rounds of interviews and assessments, she was rejected on the grounds that “front-line employees don’t want women”. Yuan's request for spiritual damage relief money and apology was not upheld by the court.
"The cost of illegality should be even higher."
In Wang Enhui's view, only by making employers pay the illegal cost of employment discrimination can make them feel awe of the rule of law that they don't want, dare, or can't, and effectively manage the stubborn disease of employment discrimination.
Strong palliative treatment is more effective in treating the root cause
This year's government work report included "employment discrimination" for the first time, and added "educational discrimination" and "fair employment environment". Discussions on topics such as equal treatment of women's rights and interests, speeding up the revision of the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests, and improving the guarantee mechanism for gender discrimination in employment are also very hot, and the promotion of anti-employment discrimination has once again attracted widespread attention.
Faced with the damage of employment discrimination to the fair employment of workers, all sectors of society generally believe that it is necessary to vigorously address the symptoms and effectively address the root causes.
"First of all, we should start with changing ideas, especially enterprises."
Shen Jianfeng emphasized that enterprises must realize that maintaining an equal employment environment is not only a social responsibility, but also a requirement of social progress and civilization, "Opposing employment discrimination is an intervention and restriction on unfair market choices, and its inherent nature should not be ignored. demonization".
In recent years, calls for an anti-discrimination law in employment have intensified.
Shen Jianfeng said that there are many laws and regulations related to employment discrimination in my country, but they are scattered and unsystematic. A special anti-employment discrimination law will be more normative, universal and mandatory for the treatment of discrimination, and it is the most feasible and effective. measure.
In addition, remedies should also be improved, such as increasing the intervention of labor security supervision, and setting administrative penalties for employment discrimination.
"We must have the courage to say no to the apparently unreasonable demands and discriminatory behavior of employers!" Wang Bei hopes that workers can actively defend their rights, and at the same time proposes to promote the public interest litigation system in the field of anti-employment discrimination. Litigation can not only unblock the channels for rights protection, but also act as a warning and deterrent to employers, and it can better solve the difficult problem of rights protection faced by laborers in a way of setting an example.”
The interviewed experts generally believed that with the development of economy and the progress of social civilization, the social responsibility of enterprises and the unfair phenomenon of employee protection and employment may reach a certain balance.
However, in order to fundamentally eliminate the impact of employment discrimination on equal employment, in addition to the law, relevant departments, society, employers, etc. should also form a joint effort.
The improvement of social systems such as childbirth and the government's implementation of corresponding labor cost compensation for enterprises are feasible strategies.
For example, linking the employment situation of enterprises with taxes, etc., and giving tax or other preferential policies to enterprises that actively clean up and remove unreasonable restrictions on employment, can better stimulate the enthusiasm of enterprises to consciously create a fair employment environment.
Li Na