Moral incivility in the workplace may be a "veiled expression of discrimination and bigotry" in normal times, putting certain workers at a disadvantage. This type of workplace incivility is distinct from the impoliteness factor. It is about different types of bigotry, sexism, and injustice faced by certain individuals in the workplace, rather than politeness standards of conversation that act as a social lubricant.
COVID-19 has the potential to increase organizational moral incivility by unequal behavior and results. The virus's roots, for example, have resulted in unfair treatment of workers with HIV.
Backgrounds of Asia. One employee in Monterey, California, characterized his or her experience as follows:
I was the only Asian American at a job party, and I had an allergic reaction that day. When she saw me sneeze, she told me I couldn't be there, that I wanted to go, and that I shouldn't eat any of the convention's coffee or cookies. When other participants in the conference were sneezing, sniffling, and coughing, she singled me out.
The pandemic could also put a burden on hard-won progress on gender equality. Changes in working conditions and procedures, in certain ways, overwhelmingly impact certain classes.
The gender factor illustrates disparities in workplace stability, access to economic assistance programming, increased safety threats in some occupations with a greater proportion of woman employees (e.g., nursing, aged care, social work), and improvements to meet new parenting obligations.
Companies in a variety of industries have had to deal with the pressures to respond to the "new standard." In this new environment, large corporations have had to make health and safety decisions, and others have implemented controversial measures that could be unfair. For example, one mining firm was accused of ageism and bigotry after employees of a certain age or indigenous origin were ordered to stay at home. While the company justified its actions as a way to reduce risk to populations seen as more vulnerable to transmission and to the negative health effects of COVID-19, not everyone found this explanation persuasive. In the United States, the American Bar Association anticipates a "flood" of age abuse cases in the near future.
The pandemic has created new decision-making scenarios, such as occupational COVID-19 testing, choices for leave-of-absence demands, and rehiring procedures, where companies must be particularly vigilant to prevent discriminatory behavior. Employers will be required to make extra accommodations for vulnerable workers who continue to see dangers of returning to work after the pandemic has passed.
Steps must be taken to monitor and mitigate the pandemic's impacts on racist policies in the short term, as well as their implications for wider disparities. Employers must stand firm in the face of what may be a potentially disastrous situation.
