EDIT: I’ve got enough of the recorded meeting in a video, and I have screenshots of the comments from the senior engineer, which is actually the most important part. I will likely be chatting with an attorney today.
...
In the meeting, the head of HR (a White female) said, “We get a lot of applicants for our jobs, and they all look the same - you know what I mean. ... As of now we will be pausing the hiring of non POC until we find applicants who fit the racial mix we want in the company.”
Now here’s the crucial part. A leading engineer posed a question through the meeting chat. He asked for clarification on this since it’s difficult to find qualified candidates. The HR gal verbally responded that yes they’d delay hiring Whites In favor of POCs.
And the engineer then asked for further clarification stating that this means we’re effectively not hiring White people since a company has a short window within which to hire a good candidates (meaning they’ll get snapped up by another firm).
HR gal did not respond to this as I think it treads on illegality.
Can anyone confirm this? Also, what can I do about this? As I said the meeting was recorded.
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[–] NakedWarrior 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
I'm not a lawyer but work in the legal field (some employment law). I didn't see this in the comments, if it was there, forgive me. But did YOU video the meeting? If you did, does your video include audio? If so, and since I don't know what state you live in, make sure your state laws allow for one party video/audio recording. For instance, in my state it is illegal to record both video and audio without the knowledge/permission of both parties. You can only legally record video, but no audio without the knowledge of the other person. If this is the same in your state, you actually broke the law if you were the only person who knew you were recording. Not trying to discourage you, but just want to make sure you are legally safe. Otherwise, not only could you get in legal trouble, but anything you recorded would likely not be admitted in a lawsuit.
Since you are already employed, I don't see how you could file any type of lawsuit, as you are not being discriminated against (in any lawsuit you have to show damages). If you had someone apply and not get hired, it would still be very hard to prove your company didn't hire them due to their race, but that person could try. Even if your company has millions to throw at a lawsuit (I don't know how well known or how big your company is), no company wants to go to trial and be at the mercy of a jury. At the very least, your company would likely settle with that person. However, unless your company is constantly hiring and you have friends that are perfect for jobs there, it seems like a hard task. It might be more ideal to just expose your company for what they are doing. If the proof is out there, future potential recruits can find it and sue if they so desire. However, this also allows the company to reformulate a plan to still hire non-whites but be more deviant.