Affirmative action was
first created from Executive Order 10925, which was signed by President John F.
Kennedy on 6 March 1961 and required that government employers "not
discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race,
creed, color, or national origin".
In 1965, President Lyndon
B. Johnson
issued Executive Order 11246 which required
government employers to take "affirmative action" to "hire
without regard to race, religion and national origin". This prevented
employers from discriminating against members of disadvantaged groups. In 1967,
gender was added to the anti-discrimination list.
It is often instituted for government
and educational settings to ensure that certain designated "minority groups" within a society are able to
participate in all provided opportunities including promotional, educational,
and training opportunities.
The stated justification for affirmative
action by its proponents is that it helps to compensate for past
discrimination, persecution or exploitation by the ruling class of a culture and
to address existing discrimination.
Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law that prohibits employers from
discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national
origin, and religion. It generally applies to employers with 15 or more
employees, including federal, state, and local governments.
Comments
I have always been
responsible for regulatory compliance for the companies I served. I read all Labor and Employment Laws myself.
The National Labor Relations Act provided for mutual agreement on Union
Contracts. The Wage & Hour Law provided guidance on Exempt vs Nonexempt
classification. The Civil Rights Act provided for the continuation of
employment screening tests.
Large Companies took a
different approach and let their Law Firms dictate their policies and always
erred on the side of over-compliance and paid settlements for invalid
discrimination claims. This resulted in large fines.
I handled complaints
myself and never lost and never paid settlements. I enforced productivity,
transparency and respect for employees in a meritocracy. My workforces
appreciated good hires, because they wanted good co-workers. They also
appreciated the fact that I was not a regulatory zealot.
Affirmative Action
compliance had to be balanced by individual merit to avoid workforce cynicism
and resentment. Employees didn’t like favoritism from bosses or government
edict. I avoided working for companies that were prone to regulatory zealotry.
I designed performance appraisal processes that were based on facts and
measurable results.
My approach to
Affirmative Action since 1967 was to continuing to hire the best candidates I
could find based on their interests and abilities. I continued to use multiple
tests.
I wrote many Affirmative
Action Plans and passed many Compliance Reviews over the years, My workforces
always mirrored the community. I never
hired a Black applicant because I needed one. I did hire a lot of Black
applicants who aced my tests, interviews and reference checks.
Federal Law is usually
passed to fix things that are already improving on their own and they are never
repealed, because they attract constituencies that want them to remain.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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