What is Preferential Treatment?
In many cases, there are laws which discourage employers, landlords and agencies from openly disqualifying applicants according to race, age, ethnicity, and other criteria. A landlord cannot reject a black applicant’s application for an apartment based strictly on his or her race, for example, nor can an employer deny an interview to a 55 year old applicant based on his or her age. That would be considered illegal discriminatory behavior. However, there are no such laws against a practice known as preferential treatment. Preferential treatment is sometimes viewed as reverse discrimination. It occurs whenever a person receives a benefit because he or she is of the “correct” race, gender, economic status, religious affiliation or other categorization. An employer may not be allowed by law to discriminate against any applicant protected under law, but he or she can still show preferential treatment towards applicants who meet certain unspoken standards. An employer may prefer to work with
