Affirmative Action in Employment: Two Sides of the Mirror

Introduction

The general term affirmative action is used to describe any number of proactive steps that organizations take to reduce discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. An affirmative action plan or affirmative action program (AAP) states the specific types of actions planned within a particular organization. This paper discusses the one particular aspect of public policy-Affirmative Action and its usage in employment in a concise and comprehensive way.

Affirmative Action in Employment

Mary (pp. 23-24) mentions there are three circumstances under which an organization would adopt an affirmative action program. By Executive Orders 11246 issued in 1965 and 11375 issued in 1967 by President Lyndon Johnson, the federal government mandates that government contractors and subcontractors have an affirmative action plan. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) enforces the executive order in much the same way that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces claims of discrimination. Yet there are clear distinctions between the jurisdictions of the two government offices. One notable difference is that the OFCCP refers cases involving discrimination against one person (that is, adverse selection) to the EEOC; the OFCCP typically takes cases charging patterns of discrimination against groups of people (Mary, pp. 23-24). Also unlike the EEOC, the OFCCP has both enforcement and administrative authority. In other words, the office may impose sanctions against companies not abiding by the executive orders. These sanctions may include the withdrawal of current agreements and deeming contractors ineligible for future contract awards.

The second circumstance under which an organization would adopt an affirmative action program is a court ruling or consent decree. Private organizations may be ordered by a court of law to formulate and abide by an affirmative action program as redress for the court's findings of past discrimination (Mary, pp. 23-24). Court mandates for affirmative action are typically handed down only in the most egregious of discrimination cases; therefore, companies have fewer degrees of freedom in this circumstance, as further discussed later.

In the third case, private organizations may adopt affirmative action plans voluntarily; however, these plans are not monitored by any federal agency. Individuals or groups of individuals taking exception to these voluntary affirmative action plans must litigate through Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Court decisions have established that voluntary programs must be temporary, free from adverse impact against white male employees, and designed specifically to reduce imbalance between minority and majority groups in order to comply with Title VII.

Smith (pp. 15-16) discusses in its most basic form, the term affirmative action refers to a continual, four-step process that involves both analysis and action steps:

1. A Utilization Analysis, In Which The Organization Compiles The Percentage Of Workers In Each Protected Class That Are Currently Employed.

2. An Availability Analysis In Which The Availability Of Qualified Men, Women, And Nonwhites Present In The Relevant Labor Market Is Ascertained (Smith, pp. 15-16).

3. Identification Of Problem Areas, In Which Comparisons Are Made Between The Percentages Used And The Percentages Available; ...