Affirmative Action Plan Goals as Evidence of Discrimination

  Xerox Corporation's Balanced Workforce Initiative (BWF) involved the publication of specific affirmative action goals for each job and each salary grade level within the company. This plan was started in the 1990s in an effort to ensure proportional representation of all racial and gender groups throughout the company. The BWFs were based on government labor force data and established annually. Part of the annual performance evaluation for managers was how well they met the desired racial and gender compositions for their locations. In one instance, reports compiled for the Houston office indicated that black employees were overrepresented and white employees were underrepresented. To correct this imbalance, over a period of five years, steps were taken to reduce the percentage of black employees in the office. Six black employees filed suit against Xerox, stating that they were denied promotion opportunities even though they were qualified for the jobs into which they wanted to be promoted. They also indicated that they felt the BWF adversely affected their opportunity for advancement. Answer the following questions by applying the concepts learned in Chapter 3. Please post the case study in as one MS Word document. Note: See template provided for case study paper. Also, conduct literature reviews on the subject of discussion and use to support your case study answers: 1. Based on the evidence presented, has discrimination occurred? If so, which type of discrimination (i.e., disparate treatment, disparate impact, both)? If you aren't sure, what questions would you want to have answered to make your determination? 2. Which party (plaintiffs or defendant) has the burden of proof in this case? What defense could Xerox offer if the plaintiffs make a case of discrimination? Discuss how successful you think the company will be at defending its actions. 3. Could Xerox have achieved the same goals in a less discriminatory manner? If so, how? If not, why not?