Workplace Discrimination Costs Businesses $64 Billion Every Year [INFOGRAPHIC]

Discriminating against your employees can cost you.

Workplace discrimination against employees based on race, gender or sexual orientation costs businesses an estimated $64 billion annually, a recent report from the Center For American Progress finds. The businesses incur costs in a variety of ways, including through the turnover of about 2 million employees who leave their jobs due to discrimination.

Litigation related to workplace discrimination also costs employers a signifcant sum. Just this week, FedEx paid $3 million to settle claims that it discriminated against job applicants based on race and gender in 15 states.

But it's discrimination based on gender identity and orientation that is likely the most widespread. More than 40 percent of gay employees reported facing harassment and discrimination at work, according to a recent survey by the Gay and Lesbian Task Force, cited by the Center for American Progress. Meanwhile, 90 percent of transgender individuals said they faced the same kind of abuse at the office, with nearly half of those polled saying their gender identity had a negative affect on their professional lives because they faced discrimination.

Most Fortune 500 companies have nondiscrimination policies, but when it comes to federal law, few states have legislation in place to ensure employees' work status isn't affected by their sexual orientation or identity, according to the Center for American Progress. Legislation that would put such safeguards in place is currently pending.

See the infographic below for a breakdown of workplace discrimination in America. This material, “The Costly Business of Discrimination," was published by the Center for American Progress:

Comments

[oilfield]

01:34 AM on 03/26/2012

if you are an employer and you think folks like the eeoc wont shake you down for 10k for an employee claiming discrimination you are sadly mistaken.....of course you will agree to it, because who wants a government agency that can sue you with unlimited resources asking about every record for 10 or 20 years.....

[DIgnified]

01:49 PM on 03/25/2012

don't worry. soon republicans will have done away with employee protection totally. we will all be better off when only the corporations have a team in the life game.

[Francisco Belard II]

10:54 AM on 03/25/2012

Did you render that infographic in mspaint?

[ImBradPitt]

09:59 AM on 03/25/2012

It's amazing that people still put or keep people they know are sexist or racist.

[bradyhull]

04:36 AM on 03/25/2012

EVERYONE....LISTEN UP?

Those of you who have businesses or are employees MUST BE PROUD by the move of the government to make sure or at least try to have an equal environment of employment as necessary. NOWHERE HERE did it state of have anything to do with UNPRODUCTIVE workers, etc..SO, GET OFF OF THAT!

Why should you be proud? I am an American but I have a business and live in Europe, Madrid, Spain, to be exact. Here AGE DISCRIMINATION is brutal. EXAMPLE: Those who go to the university, come out and get there first jobs at 25-27. They keep the job for 2 years (very low wages). They get a 2nd job that pays a bit more. At 30-32 they buy a house, then at 42-45 they get fired and it is EXTREMELY HARD TO GET ANOTHER JOB AT THAT AGE. Why? Age Discrimination, they would prefer younger workers.

[Gaaltero]

10:42 PM on 03/24/2012

Pretty much they've made the discrimination laws so useful that unless you have a few nooses (gotta be nooses), a burning cross, and a dead bird in your sandwich...they'll say it wasn't discrimination.

[Gaaltero]

10:27 PM on 03/24/2012

Come Obama's 2nd term, it's gonna cost a whole lot more.

[mmike1969]

06:23 PM on 03/25/2012

you wingers are a strange bunch... I am surprised you don't blame President Clinton anymore...

[Gaaltero]

08:36 PM on 03/25/2012

winger? you should read my comments before sounding foolish.

[DARK STAR]

09:10 PM on 03/24/2012

"Racism runs deep and it runs deep in all races."

[Gaaltero]

10:28 PM on 03/24/2012

Nope. Racism requires power.

[DARK STAR]

06:26 AM on 03/25/2012

Parents or friends have "power" over their kids, that is where it usually starts.

[DIgnified]

01:55 PM on 03/25/2012

a thought or lifestyle requires no power.

[DessLoch]

07:16 AM on 03/26/2012

You confuse prejuice with racism. Racism exists when a system elevates individual powers based on race. Judicial, ownership, education, etc. This country did that and enforced it for centuries. Racism is systemic and there is still evidence of that even after the laws are shut down criminal justice is meted out along racial lines.
If the system is completely fair with no historical or current race privledged/discriminatory laws - then it is not systemic racism but individual prejudice. It can make a person's life slightly more difficult but since the reach of power of one individual or one company is not all encompasing we don't elevate individual prejudice or workplace discrimination to the rank of systemic racism. That's reserved for governments/nations under Hitler, Milosevic, etc.

[DARK STAR]

09:11 AM on 03/26/2012

I am sure of my original quote, and do not confuse the two words. Prejudice can be for anything, racism is for race.

[Under Fed yet Fed Up]

07:35 PM on 03/24/2012

Many years ago as a front line supervisor I was shocked when I was required to attend a discrimination case in the alleged wrongful termination of an employee. I was sequestered from the cortroom for the first 90 minutes of the trial and then was asked to enter the courtroom and take the stand.

The first question asked was "did you terminate the defendent?". I responded in the affirmative.

The second question was "did you terminate him because he was Greek?" I responded truthfully that I was unaware that Paul Cooper was Greek.

This was my early indoctrination into the way that people abuse the laws that are designed to protect the innocent. The moral of the story is that just because there is a claim of discrimination does not mean that there is discrimination. (Paul was fired for repeatedly sleeping on the job.)

[oilfield]

01:36 AM on 03/26/2012

it is amazing at how these things work.....

[Under Fed yet Fed Up]

07:27 PM on 03/24/2012

As a business owner I am proud to discriminate.

I discriminate against lazy people.
I discriminate against liars.
I discriminate aginst those that feel entitled and demand things they have not earned.
I discriminate against those incapable of being reiable.

There are many forms of discrimination. Some of them are absolutely necessary for the survival of a business.

[noaxe397]

05:38 AM on 03/25/2012

What happens when you  discriminate against lazy, unreliable liars of only a certain race, age or sexual orientation?

[Under Fed yet Fed Up]

09:02 AM on 03/25/2012

I haven't had cause to try that.

[DIgnified]

01:58 PM on 03/25/2012

i would like to think the manager would be fired for repeatedly hiring those kinds of people.

[aliceandthecat]

07:48 AM on 03/25/2012

As a customer I discriminate against evil businesses...like Walmart, Coca-Cola, Mc-Donalds, Nike, Apple, etc... but there's always room at the bottom of list for just one more horrible place.....

[Under Fed yet Fed Up]

09:04 AM on 03/25/2012

All of us should use a deductive process when selecting our sources for personal and professional goods. Our choice of source is a powerful voice.

[magicguy]

07:02 PM on 03/24/2012

Did you ever think that it might be money well spent to get rid of or not hire in the first place, people they do not want? If you owned a business wouldn't you want to be able to hire who you wanted to fill your positions?

[mombabytiger]

09:05 PM on 03/24/2012

I do own a business and I do hire who I want to. My employees have to provide amazing customer service and do their jobs quickly and well, with a positive attitude. As long as they do that and are honest, I don't care what race, color or gender they are.

[ImBradPitt]

10:04 AM on 03/25/2012

LOL As you have an all white management team, huh?

[oilfield]

01:37 AM on 03/26/2012

wait until you have to fire someone that knows how to work the system.

[VikingQuest]

06:32 PM on 03/24/2012

"Workplace Discrimination Costs Businesses $64 Billion Every Year"

Why is this shocking?

The goal of the government is to make everything a crime and something that will create a lawsuit.

[noaxe397]

05:41 AM on 03/25/2012

Don't break the law and there won't be a lawsuit..............It's not that difficult, really................And a plethora of arcane and esoteric laws helps the employer, since he has attorneys  on retainer anyway, and not the employee who must hire an attorney and then struggle for years to get his day in court.

[doctorJulia]

06:23 PM on 03/24/2012

I am retired now but previously worked in aerospace. You might naively think that companies whose business depended 100% on government contracts would be very careful in making sure their employees didn't go in for or receive bad treatment based on their sex, orientation or race.The exact opposite was the case. At one company, now part of Boeing, I was a low level manager and was sent for "training" in how to stay on the right side of the law. I was the only woman manager there among perhaps a hundred mne. You would think that they would go along with the trainers, seeing me there, but no such luck. They made sexist and racist remarks the whole time and just chortled at the trainers instructions. It was an awful experience. I quit and went to NASA where things were a lot better.

[MHT73]

09:20 AM on 03/25/2012

That sort of behavior suggests to me that the management was using the training as a CYA, but that the upper levels really supported discriminatory behavior. Glad you had a better experience at NASA.

[ImBradPitt]

10:06 AM on 03/25/2012

Let me guess, all the people making the jokes were white men? I know as a black man there are things that I've heard that made me sit back in amazement how upper management knew these guys were racist and sexist and breaking the law but did nothing, yet if a person of color showed up 12 minutes late they'd want to write them up.

[doctorJulia]

01:59 PM on 03/25/2012

All the male managers were white. There was a "manager row" of offices for department heads which were a bit more comfy than standard offices. They used to leave their office doors open unless they had a visitor. One day I happened to walk down this row and I glanced over to see the occupants. They were so cookie cutter that it was almost funny. Every one of them was male, about 6 feet tall, slim with good hair and of an age, about 40. That was when I decided this was not the place for me.

[374662]

06:22 PM on 03/24/2012

In some places I've worked, the people who discriminate are the worst employees in their performance. Management would not only save themselves headaches but have better work produced if they got rid of the offenders.

[VikingQuest]

06:43 PM on 03/24/2012

Problem a lot of the time is the people who are discriminated against are sometimes the worst workers.

[aliceandthecat]

07:57 AM on 03/25/2012

Your statement is essence of bias.

Discrimination is seeing one worker as being worse that another when, truthfully, they are the same. People who are seen as being the "worst" workers are usually fighting an uphill battle against exactly that sort of bias. When you are seen as being "bad", even when you are not, it makes it just that much harder to do your job "right." Those being discriminated against realize they are in a no-win situation and give up. Nothing you do can ever make-up for that thing about you that evokes bias.

Your comment is woefully ignorant of the psychological realities faced by people of color, weight, gender, age, and orientation.

[Kiska Lucas]

05:31 PM on 03/24/2012

No mention of agism or discrimination based on disability... lovely.

[Salvador Dali]

06:11 PM on 03/24/2012

That's sad... but I think the article was focusing on the LGBT Community, maybe they will write one on that issue.