Affirmative Action Paper
Affirmative Action Paper
Milton Solorzano
University of Phoenix
EMPLOYMENT LAW MGT 434
Nera Berry
6/7/09
Affirmative Action Today
A call to do the right thing, to level the playing field, institute fairness and equal opportunity – Affirmative Action, the answer? A topic of debates, and of interest, and to others, nothing more than reverse discrimination. The following will examine the elements of Affirmative action as it applies to public sector and private sector employers, and how it interacts with Title VII requirements of Equal Employment Opportunity. This paper will answer three questions: (1) what employers are subject to affirmative action plans and why? (2) What do the plans require employers to do? (3) What happens if employers do not meet the goals of the affirmative action plan?
Affirmative Action? For Whom?
The debates are many with regard to just how fair affirmative action is. On the surface the arguments appear valid and compelling. That an employer must, by law, put aside a perfectly qualified white male and give the job to an unqualified African-American male. Reverse discrimination, that’s what this truly is, some say. And in some cases, it is true. Reverse discrimination is defined as “Lawsuit or claim brought by majority member who feels adversely affected by the use of an affirmative action plan benefiting a minority on female” (Bennet-Alexander & Hartman, 2007).
Turn the table around for a moment, become the minority. Busting your butt through High School getting straight A’s and near perfect SAT’s while working long hours and saving the money you know you’re going to need. You submit your application for admittance to an Ivory League University. You wait impatiently for the response which can open wide the doors of opportunity as a young, full of potential, black male. Please Lord, you pray as you wait for the mailman every afternoon. The mailman arrives, your heart’s pumping out of your chest,...
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