Employment quotas: Brown to Bakke and beyond

Achieving full equality in employment, as prescribed by the 1964 Civil Rights Act, has been a difficult goal to realize. Most people agree that significant progress has been made in eliminating or reducing historical patterns of discrimination. Minority participation in employment has increased over forty percent since passage of the Act (14). Still there are real problems as employers, enforcement agencies, and courts attempt to implement the provisions of the law and translate legislative intent into effective practice. Opinions have been advanced recently that we have gone too far in protecting the rights of minorities and that preferential treatment of such groups has resulted in discrimination against nonminorities (26). Many of these claims of reverse discrimination have arisen as a consequence of the use of employment quotas designed to systematically increase the hiring rates of minorities. The purpose of this article is to examine the employment quota concept, to explore the current legal status of quotas, and to discuss the assumptions and implications of quota system application.