Ask Me Help Desk - California's New Caucasian Minority and Affirmative Action

How do I handle affirmation action in HR, hiring, promotions and employment with California's new minority (Caucasians) now that Mexicans are the majority? My english speaking, caucasian employees are saying they feel discriminated against.

I have always thought affirmative action laws were descrimitory in nature. An employer should be able to hire and use the best qualified people for the job, not be forced to hire just because they must meet some quota. I guess if I were in your shoes, I would only hire the most qualified person for the job offered, and document everything to CYA.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ResourseGal

How do I handle affirmation action in HR, hiring, promotions and employment with California's new minority (Caucasians) now that Mexicans are the majority? My english speaking, caucasian employees are saying they feel discriminated against.

This is one of the most interesting quandries I have encountered in a while.

Unless there is a specific issue employees are complaining about within your organization and you would like to explain it further here so that we can give you some guidance, if your employees are just expressing a general sentiment, this question would best be posed to the California State's Labor Board.
Division of Labor Standards Enforcement - Home Page As you know, Affirmative Action is a Federally mandated program that needs to be satisfied. That being said, California Proposition 209 is an amendment to the state constitution that was voted into existence back in 1996. California Proposition 209 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It specifically references institutions, such as schools, universities, government run institutions. Perhaps there is a group working on an additional amendment that will include private businesses. Your state's labor board would be the best source for information and guidance in dealing with your employees if this is just a general complaint issue. Maybe they can supply you with informational posters that you can post which will help remind them that this is all out of your company's control.

By the way resource Gal, I PM'd another member here to see if he might be able to help or shed some light on your dilemma. Here was his response to me and he encouraged me to share it with you.

(The first part of his post references Prop 209

Quote:

Originally Posted by ETWolverine

First, it should be noted that this legislation seems to apply only to government-run agencies in the State of California. It doesn't seem to apply to private businesses. Do you know if the questioner works in the private sector or in a government agency?

Second, the law states:

"c) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as prohibiting bona fide qualifications based on sex which are reasonably necessary to the normal operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting."

One can argue that such a proviso also applies to employment based on language skills. If the job requires the worker to speak English, but the applicant can not speak English, then that applicant does not fit the "reasonably necessary" qualifications for the job.

You see, this is the problem with any sort of affirmative action legislation of any kind. Affirmative action legislation creates an unfair environment in favor of minorities and against non-minorities. Legislation that tries to fix the affirmative action legislation creates an unfair environment for minorities. There is no way to properly legislate against unfairness.

The only thing to do is to get rid of any sort of affirmative action whatsoever. It doesn't work, it never has, and it never will.

By the way, did you know that the original affirmative action legislation had nothing to do with hiring practices? It said, simply, that if you are notifying the public about a job opening, you must do so in a way that informs minorities and non-minorities, rather than just non-minorities. In other words, you can't post for a job on the announcement board at an all-white mens club without also posting it in places where women and minorities can also see the posting. It said nothing about hiring and firing based on minority status.

Here is an example of the reverse discrimination I am dealing with. Most of the administrative and management jobs require Bi-Lingual English/Spanish because the Spanish workers refuse to learn English (or said they knew English when we hired them but now refuse to speak or act like they understand it) and management, admin and supervisors need to be able to communicate with them. So I have applicants who are incensed and claim discrimination based on being in the United States of America and they can not get a job with us because they don't speak a foreign language (Spanish). Unfortunately for our lowest paying jobs, the only people that apply and want the jobs at what we can afford to pay are Mexicans because they get the benefit of social service aide (Section 8, Medi-Cal, etc) so they can afford to work for less. The Caucasian applicants aren't eligible for any aide so they must depend on their wages to pay for everything so they can not afford to take a position plus there's the Bi-Lingual issue. See what I mean? I am in a pickle and I don't want to expose my employer to a lawsuit, but I am not sure what to do.

I absolutely understand what you mean. I am assuming that you don't have any in-house legal staff. I am also assuming that your employer does use the services of a lawyer, but only when he requires it, and he is unwilling to spend money on a lawyer well versed in business law and practices.

Are you a member of SHRM? That is a nationwide group for Human Resource Professionals. It is a group well worth joining. It will enable you to network with people in the same field as you are in. You have a very good chance of finding people who have had to deal with the same issues and have managed to resolve them. They are usually more than willing to share their knowledge with a colleague. They have at least one chapter in most states in the U.S. There is also a help section on their website: SHRM

Here is a link to another HR site that has a Q&A & a Blog that will connect you to other HR professionals. You might find them helpful http://www.hr.com/servlets/sfs?i=111...0Professionals

Here is a link to a HR group in Northern California that you also might be able to get help from: Northern California HR Association - Anonymous

If you require a completely free resource for legal advice, I would strongly suggest starting with the State Labor Board's legal services division. See what you can pry out of them for suggestions on handling this.

If you don't get anywhere, unfortunately the sad fact is, that your boss is going to have to shell out the money to hire an attorney licensed by the State of California, who is well versed in Business Law. Explain to him that you have availed yourself of all the free resources you possibly can and have not been able to get the help you require in resolving this potentially costly issue. Tell him that the cost of the legal fees involved to aid you in avoiding a lawsuit will be peanuts compared to the cost of defending a lawsuit and losing. With that, he might be more amenable to allowing you to spend the money. Good advice to head off a potential disaster really is priceless. The attorney can help you rewrite your Employee Handbook/Corporate policy (or put one in place if you don't have one), and will provide you with a standardized corporate "response" to these people. It might only cost a few hours of a good attorney's time.

I wish you the best of luck! If you get a chance to stop back, I am very curious as to how you were able to resolve this.