hoffman.es@XEROX.COM.UUCP (07/31/86)
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Date: 24 Jul 86 10:11:58 PDT (Thursday)
From: Hoffman.es@Xerox.COM
Subject: laundry list (non-discrimination policies)
To: wild@SUN.COM (Will Doherty)
From: Will Doherty
As these characteristics [race, religion, sex,
sexual orientation, etc.] become unimportant
(at least as far as hiring, firing, etc.),
then we can forget about pushing for protective
laws. But we aren't there yet.
Well, we certainly aren't. I proposed to do away with the "laundry
list" of prohibited discrimination categories in favor of policies
like, "Only job-related characteristics shall be considered in hiring,
firing, and promotion decisions." But I readily admit this is
idealistic.
A further idealistic tenet of mine is that I help change the world
toward my ideal by, as far as possible, being idealistic in my life
and in my proposals. :-)
-------kfl%mx.lcs.mit.edu@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU.UUCP (07/31/86)
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Date: Thu, 24 Jul 86 23:01:58 EDT
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <KFL%MX.LCS.MIT.EDU@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU>
Subject: Laundry list
To: wild@SUN.COM
From: wild@SUN.COM (Will Doherty)
Subject: We need the laundry list
As long as our culture continues to enumerate these groups of
people with "irrelevant personal attribute[s]," such as blacks,
women, and lesbians and gays (among the many), so as to relegate
them to a status other than human being status, then the people in
these groups need to struggle for human being status.
A voluntary organization is one which anyone is free to join if they
want to and the organization is willing to let them, and in which any
member is free to leave if he wants to, and in which the organization
is free to select anyone as a member if they are willing to join, and
in which the organization is free to expel any member.
Both parties have to agree for someone to join, but either party is
free to break the relationship.
Examples of voluntary organizations are churches, social clubs, and
mailing lists on the net. Marriages come close.
Why shouldn't corporations work the same way?
The problem with the policy that you propose is that someone
decides what "job-related characteristics" are, and if we leave
that open to the interpretation of many people in corporate
management, then we won't see any change in the composition of
the people in the workplace.
I propose we go to a policy of giving employers complete control
over whether to hire an applicant and as to whether to fire an
employee. Just as individuals have complete control as to where to
apply for a job, and as to whether to resign.
Employers who make hiring decisions based on irrational criteria
will be at a competitive disadvantage.
...Keith
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