‘Disparate Impact’ Is Really Awful – and Makes Really Awful Government Policy

Seton Motley | Less Government | LessGovernment.org
Seton Motley | Less Government | LessGovernment.org
Hire All the Women in This Picture

When I was musician attempting to sell fifteen million records – I needed to eat.

To that end, for two-and-a-half years I ran one particular (now long defunct) bar in the Warehouse District of Austin, Texas.

For those who do not know – Austin is a VERY Leftist city in an otherwise mostly conservative state.  My joke was:  Austin is nice because it’s so close to Texas.

I was in charge of all bar and kitchen hiring.  I hired based upon two principle criterion: service industry skills – and for the front of the house (yes, it’s true) physical attractiveness.

I never hired a black person – which didn’t even occur to me until an annoying Leftist regular pointed it out.

After thinking back over my tenure, I responded:

That’s because only one black person had ever applied.  And he had never before worked in a bar or restaurant – so I didn’t hire him.

I was too busy running the bar – to even notice the races of the people applying.  Green was the only color that mattered – I hired who I thought would make us all the most money.

And I’m fairly certain all of this is true of most employers everywhere.  Green machines all.

Reality dictates that racism isn’t the reason I didn’t hire any black people – the dearth of black applicants is.  I didn’t hire any Asians either – because I had one less Asian applicant than I had had black applicants.

Reality dictates I could not hire people who did not apply.

But Leftists don’t like Reality.  When it comes to things discrimination – they subvert Reality to something called Disparate Impact:

“A theory of liability that prohibits an employer from using a facially neutral employment practice that has an unjustified adverse impact on members of a protected class.”

Disparate Impact – is what everything affirmative action is.  An after-the-fact racial and gender head count – without taking into account the context and/or environment in which that head count came to exist.

Businesses can only conduct business in the contexts and environments in which they actually exist.  Not having this race or that gender apply – is context.  They can not hire people – who do not apply to be hired.

Disparate Impact – doesn’t care.

To wit:

Oracle Case Shows More Reform Needed at Anti-Discrimination Agency:

“Oracle…is fighting a record claim that it owes over $400 million to its female, Asian American and African American employees for underpayment over a four-year period.

“The government’s case against Oracle is built primarily upon the theory of disparate impact, which holds that the presence of unequal outcomes between demographic groups is proof of discrimination even if rules or policies are racially neutral.

“There are circumstances where a disparate impact is indicative of a problematic policy, but other times it can be the result of factors beyond a company’s control, such as unequal levels of education, or that aren’t even bad, like average differences resulting from the aggregate of individual choices.

“For instance, the fact that the NHL is 93 percent white is less likely to be explained by racial discrimination as the fact that it began as a Canadian sport and has yet to garner as much interest from minority youths as other major sports. It might be argued that the sport is expensive, and that therefore socioeconomic factors contribute to racial disparities. But is it proper to then hold a team or the league liable for society-wide issues?”

Indeed it is not “proper to then hold a team or the league liable for society-wide issues.”  Or any other business.

Let’s look at the gender discrimination portion of the ridiculous government lawsuit.

Oracle is a computer company.  Quite obviously, the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) are important to the company – and thus for those looking to work for the company.

Except:

Why Do So Few Girls Study STEM Subjects?

Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

We Asked an Expert Why Girls Don’t Study STEM Subjects

Ummm…perhaps because women don’t like STEM stuff as much men do.

Shouldn’t Women Be Free to Not Choose STEM Careers?

In a free country – absolutely.

But this is no longer a free country.  This is a government-run country.

Where Reality is forsaken.  Discarded for things like Disparate Impact.

Like me behind the bar in Austin, Oracle can only hire in the environment in which they actually exist.

Oracle can’t hire more women – because more women aren’t looking to get hired by Oracle.  They aren’t looking to get hired in the field in which Oracle exists.

In a Reality-based country, Oracle would never have been subjected to this ridiculous government-assault lawsuit.

In a Disparate Impact-based country, Oracle is subjected to this utter nonsense.  And more.

Three years after Barack Obama filed the last-minute lawsuit and left office, Oracle has been further forced to do this:

Oracle Sues Department of Labor to End Obama-Era Discrimination Lawsuit

Because the Donald Trump Administration can’t seem to stop The Bureaucracy – from continuing policies that are antithetical to the Donald Trump Administration.

Because this isn’t a free country.

It is a government-run country.

This first appeared in Red State.