Expert: John Fuller - 10/30/2008

Question
Does Affirmative Action require quotas - and if so, is there a formulary?

Thank you
Darlene

Answer
Hi Darlene,

Affirmative Action Plans do not require quotas.  The only time quotas have ever been used is when they have been Court ordered due to a proven pattern of discrimination by an employer.

What Affirmative Actions Plans do contain are percentage goals.  How that is established is you take the number of qualified people that are in your Recruiting Zone Area and compare that to the number of people you have in our organization that are of the same race/gender.  

The key word is qualified people for the postion and not just percentages of actual underrepresented minotiries.  This number is derived from the Census and Department of Labor figures.

Example.  Let's say you have 20 Technicians employed.  14 are white males, two are white females and 4 are African Americans (25%)  The data shows that there are actually more qualified African Americans in your recruiting zone than white males and you should have at least 40 percent employed just due to the percentage of availablility.  So your recruiting goal would be 40% until you reach that goal.  Again, this is not a quota but a goal to give your recruiting efforts targeted to certain groups for special emphasis.  That actual real goal for any employer is to ensure equal employment opportunity for everyone.  Recruiting under what is actually available is not a good investment for the company and they are losing out on the possibility of getting the best qualified applicant and eventual employee.

Any follow on questions, please ask.

John