What is Affirmative Action? Well, this is one of the most commonly misunderstood employment laws or doctrines. Affirmative Action is a law or program that says the federal government or individuals who contract with the federal government are required to meet specific criteria to qualify for federal funds tracks.
Employers Must Follow Demographic Requirements
What that means is that the workforce and employee pool of an employer should meet specific demographic requirements. An employer with strictly all one race, one gender, one ethnicity, et cetera does not represent the more significant demographic pool of employees within a region. If that’s the case, it is strong evidence that there is some favoritism or discrimination in employment that’s going on. So if the federal contractor does employee discriminatory practices, or there is that evidence of that, they could be disqualified from receiving or competing for federal contracts.
Now it’s the office of federal contract compliance that regulates the program. It decides whether a contractor is complying with the affirmative action rules. The primary misconceptions behind affirmative Action are that there are mandatory hiring rules or that there are quotas in place. That is not the case at all. There is no mandatory hiring or quotas.
Affirmative Action Does Not Discriminate
Requirements within the organization are simply that an organization’s hiring practices or employment practices have to be representative or closely representative of a demographic population at large. It goes both ways. It does not discriminate against the majority in favor of the minority or vice versa. It is simply an equity doctrine that these employment practices or hiring practices have to be equal and representative of a demographic population.
If you are in need of an affirmative action compliance, contact HR Specialties for a consultation.