Minority Layoff Protection

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Layoff Policies to Keep Recently Hired Women and Minorities

When companies lay off employees these days the last person hired isn't automatically the first one fired.

That's a big boost for women and minorities--but it can leave senior white men out in the cold and employers in a quandary. Major corporations are dropping their 'last hired, first fired' rules in order to preserve their carefully cultivated ranks of women and minorities, typically the newest hires.

Employers don't want to risk job-bias suits from women and minorities nor jeopardize government contracts tied to affirmative-action efforts. Business leaders say they also must retain women and minorities to compete for an increasingly multi-ethnic and female customer base.

'Many companies are finding a 'last hired, first fired' policy is too damaging to minorities and women,' explains Judith Katz, vice president of Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group, a management- consulting firm in Cincinnati. 'They're having to resort to other means when downsizing.' Among them: sweetened pensions to encourage voluntary retirements, job sharing, reduced workweeks and performance appraisals. "