Discussion Thread: Human Resource/Management Relations, Selection Replies

Affirmative action was put into place under an executive order President John F. Kennedy in 1961. This law prohibited employers from discriminating against employees based on race, creed, color or national origin. It also offered benefits for employers who sought out or hired employees from different backgrounds. In 1965 there was then a shift to voluntary affirmative action, so that there would be greater flexibility in employment practices and those who were hired would not be seen as taking the place of someone else. While the law was placed to protect minorities against the majority the employer’s inclusion policy there are now Caucasian plaintiffs who assert that they were not hired based on reverse discrimination (Murphy,2018).

There are two types of reverse discrimination treatment that have been to the supreme court the first is “Disparatee treatment” is when anyone is intentionally discriminated against based on their protected characteristics or class. This was decided in the McDonnell Douglas Corp V. Green case. Second, is “disparate impact” this is defined as an employer who has policies in place that appear to be fair but in reality are discriminatory.  In Griggs V. Duke Power Co.  In United SteelWorkers v Weber a Caucasian plaintiff claimed reverse discrimination because the company had a training program that employees could apply for but required there to be an equal percentage of white and black participants. In this case the SteelWorkers was not found to be discriminating Title VII (Murphy, 2018).

                Galatians 3:28 states “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all on in Christ Jesus”  and Galatians 5:14 tells us to love your neighbor as yourself.  Lastly, Matthew 7:12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets”. All of these versus makes it very clear that as Christians we should not discriminate against other people regardless of their religion, gender, creed or race. Unfortunately, in the United States we have a long history of systematic racism making close to impossible for minority to either pass on generational wealth or to earn a level of education anyone who meets the requirements deserves. While reverse discrimination is a newly emerging issue by having practices in the workplace that embody equality for everyone would be ideal. Equality is not always giving every individual person the same exact treatment but rather working together as a team to accomplish a goal or mission. A prime example of this would be a new mother who needs to go on maternity leave. While three months paid leave for a new child is preferred, it is also equal for a new father to get between two weeks to a month of leave for a new child.  It would also be imperative to provide equality training in the workplace, have the option for a flexible work schedule and ensure that managers and top level executives have the same vision and standpoints as the company that they are representing.

 

Reference

Murphy, W. (2018). Distinguishing Diversity from Inclusion in the Workplace: Legal Necessity or Common Sense Conclusion? The Journal of Business Diversity, 18(4), 65-83. https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/distinguishing-diversity-inclusion-workplace/docview/2206006221/se-2