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Case Law Examples: Affirmative Action And Employment At Will

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Case Law Examples: Affirmative Action and Employment at Will The purpose of this research paper is to discuss case law examples, and to discuss the arguments for and against the concepts of affirmative action and employment at will. The paper will discuss the definitions of both, as well as to give specific cases that are in favor of and against each concept.
Definition of Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action plans are put into place within organizations to ensure that employers are taking measures to recruit, hire and also promote protected classes, such as minorities, women, veterans and disabled veterans. According to the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM, 2016), affirmative action is viewed as not only a social obligation, but …show more content…

At will employment is defined as the right of a company to not offer guaranteed or tenured employment to any employee for any period of time without written instructions from the head of a company, or an employment contract being in place. Further, in an at will situation, the company or the employee can cease the employment relationship at any time, with or without notice, and with or without cause (Heathfield, 2016). At will does not give an employer the right to terminate an employee without non-discrimination practices, or communication in writing with an employee prior to their being let go. It is becoming increasingly more common for individuals to take their employers to court over at will termination of employment. In this regard, employers must make an attempt to correct poor performance and must have documentation in place that efforts have been made to assist the employee in keeping their position. When these documents are in place and signed by both the employer and the employee, it can protect a company from a potential lawsuit (Heathfield, …show more content…

The two women filed a lawsuit against the University claiming that they had been discriminated against based on their race in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (Liptak, 2016). The case became known as Fisher v The University of Texas at Austin. The University of Austin had a policy in place that had race in consideration as one of the many factors it looked at in its process of undergraduate admissions. It considered race to be one “plus factor” with regard to admissions into a program, and applicants were asked to classify themselves into one of five racial categories that were predetermined. Applicants were then scored, and plotted on a grid. Students were then chosen based on where they fell on the grid (Legal Information Institute, 2013). The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where it was ruled that race-conscious admissions programs could continue, which was a major victory for supporters of affirmative action. Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor, stated that “No decision since Brown v. Board of Education has been as important as Fisher will prove to be in the long history of racial inclusion and educational diversity” (Liptak,

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