Is Hiring on the Basis of “Looks” Unfair or Discriminatory

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MGMT 703-101: Ethics & Stakeholder Management Individual Case Report # 35: Is Hiring on the Basis of “Looks” Unfair or Discriminatory? SUBMITTED BY: ADUSEI YAW FOFIEH- 300803412 INSTRUCTOR: STEVE LACHOWSKI Date: March 26, 2015. Executive Summary Canadian Human Resource Management explains discrimination as" a showing of partiality or prejudice in treatment; specific action or policies directed against the welfare of minority groups." (Canadian Human Resource Management, p177). In today's business trend, it is really common to discriminate employees against the law whether direct or indirect. Employment discrimination law is set up to protect employees from discriminations based on race, national origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, disability, pardoned convicts, harassment, employer retaliation, and enforcement. Normally, intentional direct discrimination on groups specified in the human rights legislation is illegal. However, under certain circumstances intentional direct discrimination is acceptable. Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F), the clothing retailer, tends to employ only attractive people often from different background and as part of their company policy permits its managers to approach attractive people if they wanted a job. This policy of recruiting has resulted in A & F being sued a number of times for discrimination. However, A&F’s marketing strategy (which it calls “Casual Luxury”) is based heavily on portraying a certain image as young, all-American, sexy, attractive, etc. The strategy has work best for the company as it has helped to generate hundreds of millions in profits overtime. As a way of maintaining the authenticity of their marketing message,
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