The author of this piece claims “affirmative action” requires “preference” in the workplace for blacks, hispanics and other minorities and uses that claim as ballast for his argument. But it has absolutely no basis in law.
“Affirmative action”–a creature of executive orders starting with Lyndon Johnson and re-upped by every administration since–applies only to employers who have contracts with the federal government and requires only that such contractors seek out qualified female and minority applicants if those groups are “underrepresented” in the contractor’s workplace as compared to their workforce availability in the local area.
There is nothing in these executive orders that requires federal contractors to give preference in hiring to lesser qualified women or minorities, and in fact that would be unlawful. The prohibition in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act against employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, color and national origin is a two-way street. In other words, it is just as unlawful to give hiring preference to lesser qualified minorities as it would be to do the reverse.
“Affirmative action” may be an appealing spot for Trump supporters to lay blame, but it’s just a red herring. And such blame sounds a lot like just another dogwhistle.
Conrad Theodore Seitz
Comment of the Day: the Myths of Affirmative Action
Steel Magnolia
Atlanta, GA 8 hours ago
I am a labor and employment lawyer, now retired after almost 40 years of practice. For the last 25 years of my career, I was chief labor/employment counsel for a Fortune 50 company.
The author of this piece claims “affirmative action” requires “preference” in the workplace for blacks, hispanics and other minorities and uses that claim as ballast for his argument. But it has absolutely no basis in law.
“Affirmative action”–a creature of executive orders starting with Lyndon Johnson and re-upped by every administration since–applies only to employers who have contracts with the federal government and requires only that such contractors seek out qualified female and minority applicants if those groups are “underrepresented” in the contractor’s workplace as compared to their workforce availability in the local area.
There is nothing in these executive orders that requires federal contractors to give preference in hiring to lesser qualified women or minorities, and in fact that would be unlawful. The prohibition in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act against employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, color and national origin is a two-way street. In other words, it is just as unlawful to give hiring preference to lesser qualified minorities as it would be to do the reverse.
“Affirmative action” may be an appealing spot for Trump supporters to lay blame, but it’s just a red herring. And such blame sounds a lot like just another dogwhistle.
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