ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors examine employment and business development policy since 1964. Special attention will be paid to the rift which affirmative action caused between proponents of merit and representation in hiring and promotion. To see how affirmative action functions in the private sector. The authors explain several typical litigation cases and the non-discrimination and affirmative action issues handled by the courts. They describe the impact — or perceived impact — which compensatory treatment for minorities has had on European ethnics. European ethnics have the same rights as others to equal opportunity in education, housing, and employment; if they feel they are victims of discrimination, they have legal recourse, even if this discrimination is inadvertently caused by the federal government itself. Affirmative action holds a particular sting for European ethnics. They, too, have been victims of discrimination, albeit milder than that which has confronted blacks; but they have received no special protections from the federal government.
