Zero Tolerance Policies: Do They Prevent Discrimination in Punishment?

Organizations are increasingly adopting zero-tolerance policies (ZTPs) for various types of workplace violations. We hypothesize that while people believe that ZTPs are less discriminatory than discretionary policies, there are two ways that ZTPs foster discrimination: first, decision-makers are more likely to formally report minority transgressors (compared to White transgressors) when a ZTP exists; and second, even if decision-makers do not formally report a transgressor, they impose harsher informal punishments on minorities than on Whites. We test these hypotheses across four studies, drawing on both field and experimental data. Our findings show that ZTPs are not a panacea for preventing discrimination in the workplace.