Academic Study - 1991 Civil Rights Act May Actually Hurt Those It Was Intended to Help

The 1991 Civil Rights Act which added increased clout for those bringing discrimination claims, including the right to compensatory and punitive damages and jury trials to name just two items, may actually have resulted in making it harder for minorities to be hired in traditionally white male dominated job markets. At least that is the theses of an article [pdf] by Paul Oyer of Stanford University published in the Summer 2003 issue of Regulation magazine. The Atlantic's Stuart Taylor, Jr. discusses the article in his Legal Affairs column.



Here is the money quote that Taylor takes from Stanford Law Professor John J. Donahue III:

"Once the egregious discrimination is gone," Donohue says, "then litigation-based schemes to bring ever more fairness become more burdensome and of dubious effectiveness. Litigation is a crude weapon;you can't perform surgery with a saber. Unfortunately, Title VII has become a matter of religious dogma for many academics, and certainly for those who benefit;plaintiffs' lawyers and consultants;and therefore immune to any type of critical inquiry."

Those who have toiled in the employment litigation arena know all too well the truthfulnessess of those words. But as today's, at least temporary defeat of an attempt to change outdated wage and hour regulations show, the idea that Congress will ever roll back any benefit it has provided, regardless of the harm that it might be causing, is most unlikely.