Minority Groups "Special Rights"

No - the law stops you discriminating, it is neutral on which qualified candidates you do decide to employ.

Apart from when the law enables discrimination, such as the Equality Act. See Section 158 & 159 here:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/part/11/chapter/2

Of course, it does not require quotas, but does allow discrimination to in favour of a group (be it gender, race, disability etc). So I guess you could set up quotas for your organisation under this Act.

Key bit here:
That action is treating a person (A) more favourably in connection with recruitment or promotion than another person (B) because A has the protected characteristic but B does not.
 
"It's not that I didn't hire you because you're black; it's just that I liked the white candidate better. But not because he's white."
 
Apart from when the law enables discrimination, such as the Equality Act. See Section 158 & 159 here:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/part/11/chapter/2

Of course, it does not require quotas, but does allow discrimination to in favour of a group (be it gender, race, disability etc). So I guess you could set up quotas for your organisation under this Act.

Key bit here:

Except you've totally taken that out of context.

It only applies when there is a problem to be addressed and when the person to be hired is as qualified as the other and it actually seems to outlaw having a policy to favour one group over another.

This section applies if a person (P) reasonably thinks that—
(a)persons who share a protected characteristic suffer a disadvantage connected to the characteristic, or
(b)participation in an activity by persons who share a protected characteristic is disproportionately low.
(2)Part 5 (work) does not prohibit P from taking action within subsection (3) with the aim of enabling or encouraging persons who share the protected characteristic to—
(a)overcome or minimise that disadvantage, or
(b)participate in that activity.
(3)That action is treating a person (A) more favourably in connection with recruitment or promotion than another person (B) because A has the protected characteristic but B does not.
(4)But subsection (2) applies only if—
(a)A is as qualified as B to be recruited or promoted,
(b)P does not have a policy of treating persons who share the protected characteristic more favourably in connection with recruitment or promotion than persons who do not share it, and
(c)taking the action in question is a proportionate means of achieving the aim referred to in subsection (2).
 
Except you've totally taken that out of context.

It only applies when there is a problem to be addressed and when the person to be hired is as qualified as the other and it actually seems to outlaw having a policy to favour one group over another.

Not really, as the section you have quoted can also be used to discriminate. Eg., lets take for example the following from your quote:
"(b)participation in an activity by persons who share a protected characteristic is disproportionately low."

This is so open ended, that you could ignore a whole range of evidence to get more women into a workplace when there are a shortage of women actually applying.

To put it another way, if you ran say a computer company, of mostly men, and had a round of recruitment, you could pick as many women as you wanted (assuming approx. equal qualifications) and not be accused of discrimination, but to do the reverse would put you at risk, as the men applying would not be considered a protected group, but the women would be. So you could employ said women on the grounds of them being women.

The issue here would be that who's to say that there is a problem? If few from a group wanted to work for said company, they would constantly be trying to employ from that group over others. But it would appear that there is a problem, when it was just that few wanted to work for them.
 
Or maybe you want to refer to the guidance instead...
Example
An employer has very few women in
its senior management team. Under
the general positive action provisions it
offers a development programme which
is only open to women to help female
staff compete for management positions.
This is not unlawful discrimination
against male staff, because it is allowed
by the positive action provisions.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...ta/file/85014/positive-action-recruitment.pdf
 
Not really, as the section you have quoted can also be used to discriminate. Eg., lets take for example the following from your quote:
"(b)participation in an activity by persons who share a protected characteristic is disproportionately low."

This is so open ended, that you could ignore a whole range of evidence to get more women into a workplace when there are a shortage of women actually applying.

To put it another way, if you ran say a computer company, of mostly men, and had a round of recruitment, you could pick as many women as you wanted (assuming approx. equal qualifications) and not be accused of discrimination, but to do the reverse would put you at risk, as the men applying would not be considered a protected group, but the women would be. So you could employ said women on the grounds of them being women.

The issue here would be that who's to say that there is a problem? If few from a group wanted to work for said company, they would constantly be trying to employ from that group over others. But it would appear that there is a problem, when it was just that few wanted to work for them.

Hiring women not qualified for the role ahead of qualified men would still be discriminatory and would still put you at risk. Hiring a woman over an equally qualified man would be OK if women are underrepresented.

If women are underrepresented currently then I'm not sure how you would fix that situation other than hiring more of them.

If few women want to work for you then again that's a problem you need to address not an excuse.
 
Hiring women not qualified for the role ahead of qualified men would still be discriminatory and would still put you at risk. Hiring a woman over an equally qualified man would be OK if women are underrepresented.

Hypothetically: how about if they are over-represented?

If few women want to work for you then again that's a problem you need to address not an excuse.

It's not necessarily a problem, though, unless one concludes that men and women have almost precisely the same interests, in general. Aside from some fields, I'm not sure we can say that.
 
Hypothetically: how about if they are over-represented?

Then it would not be OK. The legislation makes that clear.

It's not necessarily a problem, though, unless one concludes that men and women have almost precisely the same interests, in general. Aside from some fields, I'm not sure we can say that.

Well yes we can go on all day about special cases, exceptions and why it might not be the case but as a general rule if your business isn't getting applications from minorities or women then assume it's a problem and investigate and try to fix it rather than look to explain it.
 
Well yes we can go on all day about special cases, exceptions and why it might not be the case but as a general rule if your business isn't getting applications from minorities or women then assume it's a problem and investigate and try to fix it rather than look to explain it.

Ok, what if the explanation to the problem is "women don't like chopping wood all day"?
 
Not sure I follow.

Well to address your concern in law then if no people of group x are applying then you wont be turning them away unfairly and thus will have no cause for concern.

My personal view is that is not enough. You cant just sit back and wash your hands of those situations. If your business isnt attractive to people outside a small select group then fix that.

If you try everything and still nothing changes then we can listen to the reasons. Not before.
 
http://thealternativehypothesis.org/index.php/2016/12/04/blacks-and-whites-with-equal-educational-attainment-differ-in-cognitive-ability/

Blacks and whites with equal educational attainment differ in cognitive ability. This is relevant to this thread and to why there is discrimination in hiring,

Did they control for environmental effects, such as prevalence of lead paint or pollution during formative years?

www.who.int/ceh/publications/leadguidance.pdf

www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/iq-effects-childhood-lead-exposure-persist-in-adults/

By the way, regarding being a minority, I lived in Hawaii for over 3 years as a white, I did quite well. I currently shop at stores near me where the population is nearly 90% African -American, and things are just dandy. Try it sometime, the only thing you have to give up is your fear.
 
Well to address your concern in law then if no people of group x are applying then you wont be turning them away unfairly and thus will have no cause for concern.

My personal view is that is not enough. You cant just sit back and wash your hands of those situations. If your business isnt attractive to people outside a small select group then fix that.

I wasn't talking about a specific employer but a field in general.
 

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