Abercrombie & Fitch Lawsuit of Employees Discrimination - Law Paper Example

Adverse impact usually refers to practices in an organization which affects a particular group of people based on their characteristics such as race, religion or gender, despite the employers applying neutral laws and regulations. The employment practice is not discriminatory at face value, but rather its effects have discriminatory effects. On the other hand, disparate treatment refers to intentional discrimination by employers by a persons characteristic such as age, race, gender or religion.

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Abercrombie & Fitch were accused of discrimination in their hiring process based on race. This case applied disparate treatment because the company discriminated against certain races intentionally. The company wanted to give its profile an American feel and intentionally turned down Asians, blacks, and Hispanics because they did not fit their description of the American look. The company thus hired whites for sales floor jobs while the other races were rarely hired and if hired were given jobs that did not put them on the front face of the company. There were complaints from several Asian and Hispanic plaintiffs who said that when they applied for jobs at the company, they were pushed to stockroom jobs due to their lack of meeting the companys ideal looks. The companys ideal look was white models that graced the companys magazines and posters mostly. Evidence confirmed the discrimination when a former assistant manager said that there were two or three black employees, one Hispanic and one hundred and six whites out of the one and ten employees. The ratio of the composition of the work force is a clear indication of disparate treatment, where white applicants are favored in the hiring process compared to other races. Further, Eduardo Gonzalez said that he was told by a manager at the store that he should apply for a stock room or overnight position, which clearly indicated that the store wanted to maintain a white look. They, therefore, pushed the non-white job applicants to positions that would not have them interacting with any customers, or where no customer would see them. The discrimination dug so deep into the store that top managers would visit to ensure that the employees fitted the look that they wanted to maintain. Store managers were also reported to approach customers who fit the look that fit the stores image to persuade them to apply for jobs at the store. Disparate treatment was evident when five employees were laid off on the basis that the work force was too large, yet the company hired five white employees a few weeks later.

Abercrombie & Fitch should formulate a recruitment process which is fair and non-discriminatory, to so as to ensure that they retain their customers. Usually, cases that were raised against the store would damage the stores customer relations because customers would shy off from companies that are discriminatory. First and foremost, the company should embrace diversity based on race from the start, and this would translate to higher sales because people of other races would also identify with the company and purchase clothes from them. The company should level the interview process for all candidates. Doing so will ensure that all candidates are asked similar questions which are listed down to measure the candidates capabilities. The company can also hire managers who are black, Hispanic or Asian. Once there are mixed race managers, during interviews the company should set a panel that incorporates different races which will ensure accountability of all interviewers for fairness. After interviews, the company should provide disqualification reasons to applicants so that the applicants do not think that they were not hired due to racial discrimination. The company can also incorporate a review process of the hiring process to receive feedback from applicants. This would help the company to improve its hiring process because they can find out any setbacks experienced. Questionnaires and surveys are some of the methods that the company can obtain feedback from the candidates. The company should maintain a policy of equal employer which they should communicate to the public as well as promote internally. In the event that the company is hiring, the human resource department should list the qualification regarding skills that they are looking for in the successful applicant. This will ensure that the interview panel is well informed on what to consider in the applicants.

Based on their website, Abercrombie & Fitch has managed to change its image to promote diversity. The statement from the Senior President that diversity and inclusion is a key to the success of the organization and their interest in having a diverse culture clearly indicates their change of image from an all-white look. They have also given milestones of their diversification, and in the year 2011 50% of their store's associates were non-white. From the information on their website, minorities could be encouraged to apply for jobs without fear of discrimination in the recruitment. Similarly, on their website, the models displayed are of mixed races, with the inclusion of Hispanic and black models. It is not an all- white image as they had initially passed across on their posters; therefore minorities can apply without any fears that they would be discriminated on the basis of their race. The bold step of inclusion of models that are not white promotes diversity in their staff which would lead to attraction of customers from different races.