Merit Determinants of ADA Title I Allegations Involving Discharge: Implications for Human Resources Management and Development

Abstract

Nonparametric tests of proportion were performed comparing discharge resolutions (the most prevalent discrimination issue filed with the EEOC between 1992 and 2008) with resolutions of a composite group of the next most prevalent discrimination issues (reasonable accommodation, terms and condition of employment, harassment and intimidation, and hiring). Results indicated that when an employee files an allegation of discharge discrimination, the resolution status of that allegation is more likely to be without Merit. Two exhaustive chi-square automatic interaction detector (CHAID) analyses were performed, with the first including 44 impairment types (e.g., back, traumatic brain injury, learning disability) and the second including those 44 impairment types combined into six categories (e.g., physical, neurological, sensory, and behavioral impairments). Results of the first exhaustive CHAID proved quite unwieldy but indicated that behavioral disabilities have relatively low merit resolution rates when it comes to discharge allegations (i.e., there is less actual discharge discrimination occurring for persons with behavioral disabilities). One additional finding was that filing discharge discrimination under one of the alternate prongs of the ADA's definition of disability (i.e., "regarded as a person with a disability," "record of a disability," or "association with a person with a disability") was the main driver of merit resolution activity. Results from a second exhaustive CHAID indicated that in the case of discharge merit resolution activity, employer industry drives the alternate prongs, employee race drives physical impairments, and employer industry drives behavioral impairments. Implications for human resources management and development research and practice are addressed.

The Unheard, Unseen, and Often Forgotten

“…Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) since July 1992 have implicated employers in either unlawful discharge or constructive discharge (Rumrill & Fitzgerald, 2010; Rumrill et al, 2010). Allegers of discrimination have a one in five chance of prevailing in cases claiming either discharge or constructive discharge (Hurley, 2010).…”

“…In HRDI , two articles were found on the prejudices of human resource students as future practitioners and their ambivalence toward the employment of disabled workers (Hidegh & Csillag, 2013), and on the mentoring of disabled employees (McDowall-Long, 2004). In ADHR , one issue contained five articles that covered allegations of discharge-related discrimination (Hurley, 2010; Rumrill, Fitzgerald, & McMahon, 2010) and discharge-related discrimination against employees with disabilities (Rumrill & Fitzgerald, 2010), and Roessler, Hurley, and McMahon (2010) and Hurley (2010) compared allegations and resolutions of discharge and constructive discharge discrimination with non-discharge discrimination. A fifth article discussed disability as a diversity factor (Nafukho, Roessler, & Kacirek, 2010).…”

Workplace Discrimination and the Perception of Disability

“…Merit outcomes were second most associated with complaints of discrimination based on Discharge, especially in the industries of wholesale, retail, and manufacturing and more especially when the plaintiffs were from the youngest (≤ 29) and the oldest (60+) age groups. Claimants have less success with the allegation of Discharge since employers can appeal to poor worker performance, loss of job qualifications, adverse economic conditions ostensibly necessitating layoffs, and other developments (Hurley, 2010 inequities in shift assignment or vacation preferences; or restriction as to mode of dress or appearance" (EEOC, 2003). Both of these issues indicate coercive or at least dissuasive actions on the part of employers.…”

“…The authors utilized records extracted from a "master database" of over two million Hurley;. The end groups are show on the classification tree as "nodes".…”

“…have been increasingly utilized in marketing and medicine. More recently, CHAID has been used several times to analyze variables in EEOC data focusing on hiring , harassment (Shaw, Chan, & McMahon, 2012), and discharge (Hurley, 2010).…”