Hierarchies permeate our working lives via manufactured inequality that is not always visible. Merging bodies of work that identify and describe systems of oppression, we develop a framework that illuminates the cascading influence of such socio-historical factors on organizational processes. We integrate sociological, institutional, and systems psychodynamics theories to document how arbitrary hierarchies influence everything from how organizations form to interpersonal interactions. The literatures converge on a single, sobering logic: because organizations are embedded in—and seek legitimacy from—their broader socio-historical contexts, the same arbitrary hierarchies that stratify societies are naturally imported into organizational life. In doing so, we clarify the most appropriate applications of common terminology used to describe the experiences of disadvantaged groups (e.g., discrimination, marginalization, minoritization). Specifically, we redirect scholars’ usage of the term “microaggressions” away from the subtlety of the microaggression (which has been the focus of past research in this topic) to highlight their origin in – and maintenance of – hegemonic organizational power structures. We then utilize this framework to generate recommendations to help organizational leaders “stop the leak” or ameliorate the influence of hegemonic hierarchies in their workplace.