It has been nearly forty-three years since The Civil Rights Act of 1964 legislation was passed; however, studies still show that discrimination at the workplace based on color is widely prevalent. A recent study on this subject by Joni Hersch, a law and economics professor at Vanderbilt University, proves American business ethics as questionable. Her findings conclude that light-skinned legal immigrants in United States make more money on average compared to darker skinned, and the main cause is discrimination. I believe conscious or subconscious discrimination based on color still exists in American workplace and constitutes an unethical business practice.
Title VII of The Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids job discrimination by covered employers based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Covered employers are allowed to discriminate based on religion, sex or national origin where national origin, religion or sex is a bona fide occupational qualification that is reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise.4 However, there is absolutely no exception for discrimination based on race or color. The findings in the article point that “On average, being one shade lighter has about the same effect as having an additional year of education”; “immigrants with lighter skin earned on average 8 percent to 15 percent more than similar immigrants with much darker skin.” These findings of discrimination based on skin tone are disturbing, but will be hard to prove in lawsuits.
It is important to identify in the article that the findings are not discrimination of only darker skinned by lighter skinned. Complaints of color discrimination go both ways. The survey used 11-point scale for measuring skin tone in order to gather the data. There is growing evidence that there is “a preference for whiteness” in America that goes beyond race. Hersch has taken into consideration factors that could affect wages, such as...