Can an employer get into legal trouble for making an effort to hire more females and minorities?
Maybe. Talk about being between a rock and the hard place… Can an employer really get into legal trouble for going out of its way to seek diversity in the workplace by hiring more females and minorities? To the surprise of some employers, the answer is yes, it could happen. In particular, employers should be aware that discrimination laws like Title VII prohibit hiring and certain other employment decisions motivated by sex, race, etc. These requirements create certain “protected classes” of employees and applicants, consisting of females and certain minority groups. However, the basic premise of discrimination statutes is that an employer cannot make employment decisions on account of race, sex, or any other identified characteristic. While this typically refers to making decisions against a member of a protected class, what happens if the employer makes a decision for a member of a protected class and in so doing rejects an equally or better qualified candidate who is not in the cl
