Affirmative Action Mgt/434

Affirmative action paper

Employment Law MGT/434

University of Phoenix

June 9, 2010

Affirmative Action Paper

Affirmative action has been a controversial subject since it was created. Some people may confuse affirmative action with civil rights and equal employment opportunity and although all three have similar goals and reasons for existing they are a bit different from one another. This paper will examine a brief history of affirmative action, explain how a company can determine whether or not it requires an affirmative action plan, what may happen if they have a plan and do not follow it, and some of the controversy around the idea.

Although some efforts toward affirmative action were made prior to the civil rights movement in the1950s they were in large part just anti-discrimination statutes. For the early part of the 20th century both ethnic and racial minorities and women faced legal and social exclusion. Black Americans and immigrants from other countries and women were only considered for low paying jobs. Blacks and Mexicans were typically forced to work on farms and similar jobs. Women were not allowed to enter certain occupational fields such as medicine, fire fighting, or law. Even though Executive orders had been passed to prevent this type of segregation it continued well into the 1970s for some minorities and women in many companies and even entire occupational fields. For example, fire and police departments remained predominantly white male occupied until well into the 1970’s. For many years black Americans were predestined to do no more for manufacturers then sweep the floor never being offered an opportunity to advance any further.

Similar to President Kennedy’s executive order 10925 in 1961, President Johnson’s 1965 executive order 11246 prohibited discrimination because of race, color, religion, and national origin by any company receiving a government contract or sub contract. In 1967 President Johnson amended this order to...