Response to Discrimination (Essay Sample)

COMMUNICATION CHALLENGE PROMPT
You were recently hired as the Assistant Human Resources Director for Women’s Wear
Daily, a fashion magazine in Manhattan. You love your job for a variety of reasons. Still,
you are especially grateful for the benefits and salary it provides, helping you provide for
your family after your spouse was recently laid off. Additionally, you know that this job
takes you one step closer to your dream job as Director of Human Resources at a large
fashion magazine.
Within the first few weeks of being hired, you are assigned to interview your first
potential employee for the position of summer editorial intern, with the supervision of
your boss, the Director of Human Resources, who will interview candidates together for
the first time. After hours of potential candidates, you meet Talia, who you think is
perfect for the position. She is an English major at NYU and the fashion editor at NYU’s
school newspaper, The Washington Square News. Her writing samples are strong, she
came prepared with diligent research on the organization, and her work ethic fits with
the work culture at the magazine.
At the end of the interview, you thank her for her time and tell her that you will be in
touch with her soon. Talia promptly interjects and tells you that she needs you to know
that she has a chronic illness, and she wants you to know in advance just in case she is
hired. She felt she needed to be honest so that you are all aware of her abilities. She
discloses to you that she has Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a degenerative autoimmune
disorder. She explains that she has what is called relapsing-remitting MS, which when
she has an episode makes her fatigued and weak and every so often impacts her short-
term memory. You thank her for being honest and send her on her way.
After the woman walks out of the office, your boss says, “Well, that’s too bad,” and
throws Talia’s application in the trash. You ask her why such a qualified candidate
would be thrown away. Your boss tells you, “This is normal hiring practice, and that this
is just an unwritten part of the organization’s policy. She is a liability, and we have to
think about productivity-- bottom line.”
Unfortunately, you know this is illegal and discriminatory. You want to give your boss
the benefit of the doubt because you get the feeling that she doesn’t realize what she’s
doing. You know you need to inform her and prepare a response to your boss, which
helps her understand that not hiring Talia based on her disability is illegal. You realize
you need to prepare a response to your boss, but first, you need to collect your thoughts
so you can appropriately approach your boss and make her realize she's making a big
mistake.
With this in mind, please read the following Communication Challenge 4 Learning
Packet
. This packet will help you prepare your response and should be cited in your response.
After reading the packet and thinking through the above scenario, please prepare a
developed response to your boss in 2-3 paragraphs. Use what you've learned in this
module and in the above learning packet about intercultural communication and
disability to prepare your response to the boss.