Discrimination Suits are Opening the Workforce to Minorities, Reuters Reports
Feb 18th, 2002 • Posted in: TrendlinesNEW YORK
Corporate America, though still dominated by white males, appears to be opening its doors to more minorities — thanks in no small part to a growing number of lawsuits accusing companies of discrimination, the Reuters news agency reported last week.
Noting a number of recent suits against iconic U.S. firms — Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and Texaco among them — observers say other companies are diversifying their workforces to avoid the possibility of similar suits.
“You see more and more large companies that have at least one or two individuals whose responsibility is overseeing the diversification of the workplace,” employment lawyer Timothy Bland told Reuters. “There’s a tremendous business case for diversity.”
More diversity can mean less liability to discrimination claims, broader appeal to the diverse U.S. marketplace, and greater insight into product markets and supplier circles, Bland and others note.
Despite the logic of diversifying, some firms — especially smaller, white-owned businesses — may persist in stonewalling minorities, fearing lawsuits should they botch the process of integrating their workforce.
With only three black CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies, there is still much room for improvement, but progress is being made, according to Ray Hood-Phillips, chief diversity officer at Advantica Restaurant Group, which has paid more than $50 million to settle a racial discrimination suit filed by black customers in the early 1990s.
Progress at Denny’s “would not have occurred without the lawsuit,” Hood-Phillips told Reuters. “Many American corporations have systems and ways of doing business that exclude and they are not aware.”
“I think Corporate America is probably on the forefront of understanding the damaging ramifications of trying to exist and operate within your own cultural and racial silos,” she added.
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