1. Chapter 5 Affirmative Action
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Learning Objectives
Discuss what affirmative action is and why it was created
Provide the results of several studies indicating why there continues to be a need to take more than a passive approach to equal employment opportunity
Name and explain the three types of affirmative action
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3. Learning Objectives
Explain when affirmative action plans are required and how they are created
List the basic safeguards put in place in affirmative action plans to minimize harm to others
Define “reverse discrimination” and tell how it relates to affirmative action
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4. Learning Objectives
Explain the arguments of those opposed to affirmative action and those who support it
Explain the concept of valuing diversity/inclusion/multiculturalism/why it is needed, and give examples of ways to do it
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5. Affirmative Action
Affirmative action: Intentional inclusion of women and minorities in the workplace
Based on a finding of their previous exclusion
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6. What Is Affirmative Action?
Steps to hire qualified women and minorities or other statutorily mandated groups who are underrepresented in the workplace
Actions an employer can take
Expand outreach to new groups
Recruitment of previously neglected groups
Mentoring, management training, and development
Hiring and training groups that tended to be left out of the employment process
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7. Has Affirmative Action Outlived It’s Usefulness?
Bills and acts that led to the rise of the American middle-class left African-Americans well out of the loop
Research shows that women and minorities still lag behind in terms of employment, pay and promotions
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8. Has Affirmative Action Outlived It’s Usefulness?
Title VII  passive approach
Affirmative action  active approach
Active approach required to remove a system that has been in place for 346 years
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9. Employment Research Findings
Research shows that people who hire tend to notice value more quickly in someone who looks like them
In the suburbs, equally qualified blacks are hired about 40 percent less than whites because of negative assumptions
Almost 90 percent of jobs are filled through word-of-mouth – fewer minorities and women being able to take advantage of those networks
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10. Employment Research Findings
In one experiment, retailers consistently chose slightly less qualified white women over more qualified black women in entry-level positions
When black and white discrimination testers who are similar in qualifications, dress, and so on applied for jobs, whites were 45 percent more likely to receive job offers and 22 percent more likely to receive interviews
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11. How Do Affirmative Action Obligations Arise?
There are three ways in which affirmative action obligations arise
Through Executive Order 11246
Judicially as a remedy for a finding of discrimination under Title VII
Voluntary affirmative action established by an employer
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12. Affirmative Action Under Executive Order 11246
Affirmative action actually stems from a requirement imposed by Executive Order and its amendments
Present version signed into law September 24, 1965
Executive Order 8802
Forerunner to E.O
Signed on June 25, 1941
Applied only to defense contracts
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13. E.O Provisions
Prohibits discrimination in employment – requires contractors to remedy inadequate representation of women and minorities in their workplace
Enforced by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP)
Only applies to federal government contracts
Increases compliance requirements based on the amount of the contract
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14. Affirmative Action Plans
Affirmative action plan: Must be developed according to the rules set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations part 60-2
Underrepresentation / Underutilization: Significantly fewer minorities or woman in the workplace than relevant statistics indicate are available
Or their qualification indicate they should be working at better jobs
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15. Affirmative Action Plans
Organizational profile: Staffing patterns showing organizational units
Their relationship to each other; and gender, race
Ethnic composition
Job group analysis: Combines job titles with similar content, wage rates, and opportunities
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16. Affirmative Action Plans
Availability: Minorities and women in a geographic area who are qualified for a particular position
Factors used to determine availability:
The percentage of minorities or women with requisite skills in the reasonable recruitment area
The percentage of minorities or women among those promotable, transferable, and trainable within the contractor’s organization
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17. Affirmative Action Plans
Placement goal: Percentage of women and/or minorities to be hired to correct underrepresentation
Based on availability in the geographic area
Quotas are expressly forbidden
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18. Affirmative Action Plans
Corporate management compliance evaluations: Evaluations of mid and senior-level employee advancement for artificial barriers to advancement of women and minorities
OFCCP Equal Opportunity Survey every year
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19. Affirmative Actions Used by Some Employers
Advertising for applicants in nontraditional sources
One-for-one hiring, training, or promotion programs
Preferential layoff provisions
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20. Affirmative Actions Used by Some Employers
Extra consideration
Lower standards
Added points
Minority or female “positions”
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21. Penalties for Noncompliance
The Secretary of Labor or the appropriate contracting agency can impose a number of penalties on the employer
The Secretary of Labor must make reasonable efforts to secure compliance by conference, conciliation, mediation, and persuasion before requesting the U.S. Attorney General to act or before canceling or surrendering a contract
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22. Penalties for Noncompliance
What is important to OFCCP?
The nature and extent of the contractor’s good-faith affirmative action activities
The appropriateness of those activities to the problems the contractor has identified in the workplace
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23. Judicial Affirmative Action
Judicial affirmative action: Affirmative action ordered by a court, rather than arising from Executive Order 11246
There are no specific requirements as to what form an affirmative action plan must take
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
Local 28, Sheet Metal Workers v. E.E.O.C.
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24. Voluntary Affirmative Action
The employer decides to institute an affirmative action plan regardless of the Executive Order, and despite no Title VII cases being brought
Proactive measure to avoid discrimination claims
Strict guidelines must be followed
Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO v. Weber
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25. Reverse Discrimination
Reverse discrimination: Claim brought by majority member
who feels adversely affected by the use of an employer’s affirmative action plan
mistakenly considered as the flip side of affirmative action
Reverse discrimination accounts for only about 3 percent of the charges filed with EEOC
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26. Reverse Discrimination
Glass Ceiling Commission Report
White men are only 43 percent of the Fortune 2000 workforce but hold 95 percent of the senior management jobs
Women and minorities are underrepresented in most professions
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27. Opposing Views of Affirmative Action
Con – Clarence Pendleton, Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
“New racism”
Preferential treatment – “neo-slavery”
Pro – Richard Womack, Director, Office of Civil Rights for the AFL-CIO
White males have had the advantage of preference in the workplace for years
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28. Affirmative Action and Veterans
Jobs for Veterans Act of 2002.
Contractors must take affirmative action to hire and promote qualified veterans.
Under the law, generally, “qualified targeted veterans are entitled to priority for referral to federal contractor job openings”
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29. Valuing Diversity/Multiculturalism
Hudson Institute’s “Workforce 2000” study for the U.S. Department of Labor in 1987
Valuing diversity: Learning to accept and appreciate those who are different from the majority and value their contributions to the workplace
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30. Management Tips
Ensure that the hiring, promotion, training, and other such processes are open, fair, and available to all employees on an equal basis
Work with the union and other employee groups to try to ensure fairness of adopted plans
Get early approval from the constituencies affected to ward off potential litigation
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31. Management Tips
Make sure voluntary affirmative action plans meet established judicial requirements
Provide training about the plan so that all employees understand its purpose and intent.
Implement periodic diversity and related training.
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