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Discussion Board 1: Employment Reverse Discrimination
Moira J. Lamping
School of Nursing, Liberty University
Author Note
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Moira Lamping.
Email: MJLamping@liberty.edu
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EMPLOYMENT REVERSE DISCRIMINATION
Discussion Board 1: Employment Reverse Discrimination
Prompt
In a world that is quick to state discrimination has taken place, there is a new
discrimination emerging (i.e., reverse discrimination). Is this form of discrimination really
discrimination? What diversity practices would you put in place to prevent any kind of
discrimination?
Response
Good morning professor and classmates,
Discrimination. This is a heavy topic, but such an important one. The United States has a
long history of working through discriminatory issues, from displacing the native Americans,
slavery, women’s rights, affirmative action, and now the emergence of reverse discrimination.
Much progress has been made, but there is still more to go. To understand the premise of reverse
discrimination, one must examine history, law, and precedent.
The 14th amendment to the US constitution, ratified in 1868, defined African Americans
as equal citizens under the law (Smithsonian, n.d., para. 1). Unfortunately, this amendment did
not immediately rectify the injustices done against African Americans. It would be an uphill
battle in the fight for voting rights, equal access to schools and public areas, and opportunities for
lucrative jobs and a quality standard of living. In order to help level the playing field, President
Kennedy would issue Executive Order 10925 in 1961 which introduced the concept of
affirmative action (AAAED, 2023, para. 1). The 1960s Civil Rights Act put an end to the legality
of refusing work to a person based on color or terminating a working woman due to a change in
circumstance, such as pregnancy (Portocarrero & Carter, 2022, p. 2).
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EMPLOYMENT REVERSE DISCRIMINATION
Affirmative action can be a very misunderstood concept. Some have ascertained that the
practices associated with affirmative action violates fair competition standards, giving minorities
and women an unfair advantage (Portocarrero & Carter, 2022, p. 4). President Johnson described
affirmative action well during his Howard University Commencement speech when he said “You
do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to
the starting line of a race and then say, ‘You are free to compete with all the others,’ and still
justly believe that you have been completely fair” (AAAED, 2023, para. 2). Affirmative action
was originally designed to attract, recruit, and retain employees from marginalized groups.
However, some organizations have moved towards a quota like hiring goal to ensure their work
force mirrors the general population with regards to race and gender (Noe, 2023, p. 45). The
question now is, are affirmative action practices still necessary in today’s market, and have they
potentially overstepped their initial goals, causing reverse discrimination and placing otherwise
majority groups at a disadvantage?
Employment discrimination is refusal to hire an individual based upon their race, national
origin, religion, color, gender, or sexual orientation (AAAED, 2023, para. 1). One could make
the case, that when a Caucasian male is passed over for employment in favor of a female or
minority, with all else being equal, that they may have been reversely discriminated against.
However, this would require a significant burden of proof for the plaintiff to show they were
unlawfully discriminated against based solely on race. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits
employers from unlawfully considering the above demographic factors in employment decisions.
The Supreme Court has rightly held that Caucasians are equally protected under Title VII, but
there is a lack of precedent (Meyers, 2021, p. 1065). Reverse discrimination may be the next
significant battle under the Civil Rights Act as federal courts and legal commentators have
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differing opinions on what is required to prove reverse discrimination by the majority race
(Meyers, 2021, p. 1070).
Diversity efforts are at the forefront of many organizations. Research from Utete (2022,
p. 149) demonstrates that there is a positive correlation between employee performance and
equity implementation. Portocarrero and Carter (2022, p. 4) concur that business results improve
when businesses emphasize prioritizing a diverse workforce. The AAAED (2023, sec. 2) clarifies
that affirmative action does not indicate the implementation of quotas, preferential treatment, or
guaranteed results towards the hiring of minority groups. It simply requires a good faith effort on
the part of employers to give equal opportunity to those historically disenfranchised groups.
There are various steps that employers may take to ensure no discrimination takes place,
directly or indirectly, toward any future or current employees. Research from Portocarrero and
Carter (2022, p. 4) suggests that oversight committees dedicated to inequality reduction have
made progress in reducing pay gaps between men and women, tying bonus structures to diversity
performance evaluations, and ensured diversity training for employees. A fairly new issue in the
HR sector is the use of AI to screen possible job candidates. These algorithmic decision making
programs must have human oversight due to their vulnerability of replicating biased historical
input (Köchling & Wehner, 2020, p. 796).
Ultimately, as Christians, we are called to love one another and treat each other with
fairness. “For God shows no partiality” (Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 2016, Romans
2:11). “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 2016,
Galatians 3:28).
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References
AAAED. (2023). About affirmative action, diversity, and inclusion. American Association for
Access, Equity, and Diversity. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from
https://www.aaaed.org/aaaed/About_Affirmative_Action__Diversity_and_Inclusion.asp
Holy Bible, English Standard Version. (2016). Crossway Bibles. www.biblegateway.com
Köchling, A., & Wehner, M. C. (2020). Discriminated by an algorithm: a systematic review of
discrimination and fairness by algorithmic decision-making in the context of HR
recruitment and HR development. Business Research, 13(3), 795–848.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40685-020-00134-w
Myers, C. (2021). The confusion of McDonnell Douglas: Path forward for reverse discrimination
claims. Seattle University Law Review, 44(4), 1065-1123.
https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?
lname=&public=false&collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/sealr44&men_hide=fal
se&men_tab=toc&kind=&page=1065#
Noe, R. A. (2023). Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage (13e ed.).
McGraw Hill LLC.
Portocarrero, S., & Carter, J. T. (2022). Diversity initiatives in the US workplace: A brief history,
their intended and unintended consequences. Sociology Compass, 16(7).
https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.13001
Smithsonian. (n.d.). Reconstructing Citizenship. National Museum of African American History
and Culture. Retrieved January 26, 2023, from
https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/reconstruction/citizenship
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Utete, R. (2022). Examining the relationship between employment equity implementation and
employee performance at the workplace: Evidence from a leading organisation in South
Africa. International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147- 4478),
11(8), 141–152. https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v11i8.2071
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