Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Criminal Justice

Advisor

Marisa Bryant

Abstract

Workplace discrimination has been a focus of scholars for several decades. Previous research has uncovered the practice of implicit bias in the form of pre-employment discrimination against minority groups based on factors not reflective of their work ethic or qualifications. The purpose of this study was to analyze national origin discrimination suits filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to understand why pre-employment discrimination continues to be a recurring issue in the workforce. The analysis focused on 46 randomly selected national origin discrimination lawsuits—two suits for each year between 1997 and 2020—of public record, which included the type of organization sued and the outcome. With an action research design and advocacy collation as the conceptual framework, this qualitative study examined the lawsuits for the issues that caused the claimant to file their suit. Results found that defendants (employers) avoid hostile work environment complaints and retaliate against claimants who file discrimination suits by terminating their employment. One potential implication for positive social change is the knowledge that a defendant may disguise policy violations that can occur during the hiring process. Therefore, they may change the sequence of events in their favor which cannot be verified. As a result, this knowledge can influence future studies, further addressing discrimination in the hiring process.

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