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Time - Man of the Year
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Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso
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moy
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101992
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10199912.000
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1993-04-08
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34 lines
THE WEEK, Page 21BUSINESSDeciphering a Racist Business Code
A California employment agency is caught illegally
discriminating
In the bad old days, a company looking to fill a job
selectively would call an employment agency and simply say,
"Don't send me any blacks." That kind of discrimination is
illegal now, but some companies still find ways of using code
words to avoid job applicants on the basis of race, sex and
age. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission caught
Interplace, a Los Angeles employment agency, in the act. In the
largest such suit to be settled, Interplace has agreed to pay
$2 million for using a complex set of signals to screen out
workers for its clients. Some 3,900 victims of the scheme will
share the compensation.
The agency used simple phrases to make sure its clients
could discriminate at will. If a firm wanted only Japanese
workers, for example, it would instruct Interplace to have
applicants "talk to Ma riko." Other codes blocked blacks,
Hispanics, men or women for certain work. The practice is
disturbingly widespread. The EEOC is now pursuing actions
against employment agencies in other states that use similar
codes. Some go so far as to specify "no accents," meaning no
minorities of any kind. Companies receiving this special service
include Wall Street firms, insurance companies, manufacturers
and at least one magazine publisher.