The U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion today stating that a test that determines who will get promoted is not valid if it negatively impacts a particularl group - in this case, white firefighters.
Many may refer to this as "reverse discrimination" but it is important to remember, especially in California, that all of us are in a protected class and if our class is given preferential treatment or is a victim of bias, we are protected. There is no such thing as "reverse discrimination" just discrimination. Your employment practices should:
- Ensure comparable treatment of similarly situated employees.
- If you require testing for hire or promotion, it should not have a disparate impact on any group - if it does you need to reevaluate your testing.
- Don't assume that one group has greater or lesser rights than the next. In this case white firefighters were negatively impacted when the testing stopped. The Supreme Court verified that this is not okay either.
This entire case will be covered in the July 9, 2009 HR California Extra, if you do not subscribe already to this free newsletter, sign up now!
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