Date: May 25, 2015
To: General Motors
From: N/A
Subject: Avoiding legal discrimination within General Motors
The purpose of this memo is to identify ways to avoid discrimination within General Motors companies. Although GM has changed its hiring process of women and minorities it is a good idea to have an outside consultant, such as myself, pinpoint ways to avoid discrimination in the present and future.
In order to meet legal requirements of women and minority workers, General Motors need to implement the Affirmative-Action program. The affirmative-action program increases the representation of minorities and women by taking extra effort to attract and retain minority and women employees (Noe, 2013). I do not recommend that GM implement the affirmative-action program based on quotas but on qualified candidates and those who are willing to learn. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should also be implemented because it prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals because of their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Also the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, which is an amendment to Title VII, should be implemented since it protects employees from discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions to be a form of illegal discrimination (Noe, 2013).
General Motors goes beyond legal requirements of avoiding discrimination by having various groups in leadership positions. Over one-third of the directors in GM are women. For women and minorities to work for a company GM also has employee resource groups for women, Asian Indians, Chinese and other origins as well as gay, lesbian, and transgender (LGBT) employees. GM does not only hire minorities but also trains and develops them to value diversity, and expects all their people to be fully engaged in helping GM “design, build, and sell the world’s best vehicles (Noe, 2013).” There are many ways in which GM can avoid illegal discrimination. One way is to not show any signs of disparate treatment. Disparate treatment is differing treatment of individuals, where the differences are based on the individuals’ race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability status (Noe, 2013). An example of this would be hiring one person who is just as qualified as the other person who applied for the job because of the other person’s religion (Noe, 2013). To avoid this companies can evaluate the questions and investigations they use in making employment decisions.
Secondly, GM can avoid discrimination by identifying disparate impact. This is a condition in which employment practices are seemingly neutral yet disproportionately exclude a protected group from employment opportunities (Noe, 2013). This simply means that the company lacks obvious discriminatory content, but they affect one group differently than the other. A commonly used test of disparate impact is the four-fifths rule, which finds evidence of potential discrimination if the hiring rate for a minority group is less than four-fifths the hiring rate for the majority group (Noe, 2013).
Lastly, GM can avoid discrimination by establishing and enforcing an EEO policy. The policy should define and prohibit unlawful behaviors, as well as provide procedures for making and investigating complaints (Noe, 2013). This policy will also require that employees at all levels engage in fair conduct and respectful language (Noe, 2013). Derogatory language can support a claim in court for discrimination.
If you have any questions or concerns please contract Jessica Lowe at 555-555-5555 or jesslowe87@gmail.com.

Reference:
Noe, R. (2013). Fundamentals of Human Resource Management, 5th Edition. [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books
(Noe, 2013)

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