Legality Versus Common Sense in the Workplace

The workplace of today is a unique environment comprised of different personalities. Each personality brings about a different need in order to feel safe and comfortable within the workplace. This creates many different challenges for all involved. The creation of the department known as the Human Resource Department has helped form a safety net covering all employees. There have been many different commissions and regulatory committees formed in order to help and protect employees such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Data Protection Act of 198. In some ways the very departments created to protect the employee have removed the compassion and common sense that once existed in the workplace. Where these two virtues once existed now lies litigation. The effect that these regulations and commissions have had one the workplace has created a balance of power. Those who were once powerless now have rights, those that felt they could operate unnoticed now realize they are not in positions of absolute power, and where once was chaos now exists a more structured environment. It has become the case of common sense versus legality in the workplace.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces laws enacted by our federal government, making it illegal for any place of employment to discriminate against an employee because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, n.d.). Discrimination is crucial regarding employee satisfaction. If an employee feels that they are the victim of discrimination of any kind, especially those listed than they have legal recourse through the EEOC. Another area of the EEOC is its focus on the prevention of discrimination through training and education. The EEOC has replaced vagueness and personal perception of right versus wrong with laws and guidelines that must be followed. The EEOC has effectively taken the human...