"SIOP supports the use of fair, merit-based employment practices that reflect job requirements and is against decisions based on job-irrelevant characteristics."

"Merit-based employment practices are also intended to ensure that qualified people are not overlooked/discriminated against. When an organization allows job-irrelevant factors to inhibit opportunities or influence decisions, it harms the effectiveness of both the org & workers."

"Title VII attempts to ensure that qualified people are not overlooked or discriminated against, and does not attempt to ensure that people of a particular subgroup are hired."

"Disparate impact does not require companies to "engage in racial balancing," which likely refers to practices like selecting applicants to achieve a specific representation of race among those hired (i.e., quotas), which is already illegal under Title VII."

"Disparate impact refers to situations in which a subgroup of people is shown to be adversely affected by an employment process applied equally to all. Disparate impact is not illegal if the process is shown to be job-related, meaning it is based on authentic job requirements."

"Using practices such as hiring quotas or preferential hiring for subgroups has been determined to be illegal under Title VIl in cases heard by the United States Supreme Court. Both hiring quotas and preferential hiring are considered examples of disparate treatment."

"The EO makes several statements that do not align with common interpretation of current regulation or the scientific evidence base and may result in unfair employment decisions based on reasons other than merit."

This semester I’m teaching a class on Personnel Selection Procedures and Employment Law, and I’ve mentioned countless times to my students that there will likely be attempts to change established precedent going back decades. Still shocking to see it happening so fast.

I’m not often speechless, but this could not be a more transparent and purposeful misrepresentation disparate impact, the intent behind it and how it actually impacts the hiring process in practice, and what companies are/are not allowed to do when hiring.