Positive discrimination???

[R1Geezer]

WTF is going on? Is it the job of the Government to tell employers who to employ? Surely with the state of Brown's government they have more important things to worry about! Is positve discrimination necessary? Surely the best person for the job will get it regardless of race/colour/sex.

[sp1814]

R1Geezer

Yes...potential employee should be assessed on their relevent qualifications/skills etc, and sex/race shouldn't come into it.

I assume then, that you believe that racism and sexism no longer exist within the workforce and everyone is on a level footing.

How would you tackle prejudice? Would you leave it to the private sector to work it out for themselves?

Also, what are your thoughts on Jake's post from 10.06?

JTP - good work. Again, you seem to be spot on.

[bazwillrun]

loony left hard line old school feminist + government in meltdown and on its way out = legislation like this.

you will see plenty more garbage like this, its what they will do to stamp their mark on society, knowing that successive governments rarely if ever repeal laws made by the previous government.

[helpmetoo]

i live in a small community of about 3000,

white english is the overwhelming ethnic majority = 100%,

i however employ one black guy who is very good indeed at his job in all respects,

i need apparently to reflect the community in which i live with regard to employment,

when he comes back from lunch regrettably i shall sack him and refer him to harman

[bazwillrun]

If you are an employer the best person for the job is the one that YOU decide is best, whatever the reasons, you are paying them, but this government loves targets and quotas so they wil tell you who you should employ.

[helpmetoo]

tell you what,

westminster council will have a serious problem addressing an appropriate ethnic balance within their 'penalty pusher department',

they would presumably have to sack 85% of the current mostly nigerian outfit,

the trouble is who else is prepared to be an objectionable, mute and ignorant parking enforcement operative?

[R1Geezer]

Sp 1814: I believe the ism's are rare in the work place..

- see above I think the employers generally do work out these problems themselves.

- I take on board what Jake says it's really semantics but in reality I don't beeve there are ever 2 equal candidates so the new law is superfluous.

[andrea81]

Think the point is if two candidates are equally good for the job, one being white another being of ethnic minority!

IF the employer decided that the white person would fit in better (for whatever reason), this would be deamed as wrong! So why is it ok the other way around?

[New Judge]

I admire your support for jake, sp1814.

As usual he has done a good job by drawing attention away from the sensationalist headline writers of the Daily Mail and that ilk.

However, whilst he is spot on with what he has said, he is not quite as spot on with what he has not said.

It is quite true that Ms Harman said that firms would not be forced to positively discriminate. However, whilst I was spitting out my Bite-sized Shredded Wheat she most certainly did say (and this is conveniently omitted from the BBC�s web article) that eventually all companies will be forced to publish their workforce�s diversity profile.

It will be but a short step from there to the first industrial tribunal under the new legislation, which will, by then, have been suitably "gold-plated" to encompass far more than Parliament intended.

The unsuccessful job applicant will successfully argue that his prospective employer should have considered the diversity profile of his workforce when recruiting. He (or most probably she) will be awarded a ridiculously large sum for �hurt feelings� and employers will find themselves hidebound by yet another piece of allegedly harmless legislation when making their everyday decisions.

[Booldawg]

Must be quite a difficult choice to make if you advertise a position and only white males turn up. I guess you'd have to rely on the old methods like qualifications, experience, personality and capability to do the job.