Affirmative Action - Explained
What does Affirmative Action Require?
Written by Jason Gordon
Updated at September 26th, 2021
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Table of Contents
What is affirmative action?What does affirmative action apply?What does Affirmative Action Require?When is affirmative action reverse discrimination?Discussion QuestionPractice QuestionAcademic ResearchWhat is affirmative action?
Affirmative action is a federal executive order prescribed to protect federal employees and employees of certain federal contractors.
Next Article: Employment Discrimination Under State Law Back to: EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION
What does affirmative action apply?
Affirmative action is a federal executive order prescribed to protect federal employees and employees of certain federal contractors.
To be covered by this executive order, contractors must have 50 or more employees and hold federal contracts of $50,000 or more.
What does Affirmative Action Require?
Affirmative action principles require covered employers to take actions to ensure that applicants are treated fairly in the application process and that employees are treated fairly during employment.
This means that applicants and employees do not suffer a detriment because of their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Affirmative actions may include result-oriented procedures used to promote equality in workforce employment and hiring practices.
Affirmative action programs generally seek to establish workforces that roughly represent the percentages of qualified individuals present in the available applicant pool (such as the immediate community).
When is affirmative action reverse discrimination?
Affirmative action programs that prescribe specific numbers of minority hires or provide advantages to minority applicants have been held to be unconstitutional based on grounds of reverse discrimination.
Note: Private employers who voluntarily adopt affirmative action programs must be careful to avoid quota systems that run afoul of anti-discrimination laws. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance programs can terminate federal contracts with employers who do not comply with its guidelines and can make them ineligible for any future federal business.
Related Topics
- What are the major Employment Discrimination laws?
- Civil Rights Act of 1866 (1981 Actions)
- Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- The Rehabilitation Act
- Job Accommodation Network
- Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA)
- Discrimination in Health Coverage
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
- Affordable Care Act (ACA)
- Uniform Service Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)
- Sexual Orientation and Identification
- What is Affirmative Action?
Discussion Question
How do you feel about affirmative action programs? What are the arguments for and against these programs?
Practice Question
ABC Corp is a federal contractor. The majority of the employees at the corporation are Caucasian, and it is concerned that the demographics of its workforce will disqualify it from future federal contracts. What can ABC Corp do to legally diversify its workforce?