Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement in response to allegations by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 12 that the Obama-run Department of Labor has engaged in racial discrimination in their internal promotion policies dating back to 2009:
“It is the ultimate irony that Labor Secretary Thomas Perez is facing a union crisis at the Department he leads that is largely based upon racial discrimination claims built around the discredited disparate impact theory that he has long sought to impose on private employers.
“The racism claim from Labor’s public employee union local is based upon statistical analysis of job promotions rather than a critical look at the comparative candidates who were being considered. Under Perez’s own enforcement of the law while at the Justice Department, the merits of individual candidates don’t matter, the only guideline for racial discrimination is if the correct proportion of each race and gender are represented. Now, he faces a complaint that accuses his predecessor and many of his subordinates in the Department with being branded with the scarlet R of racist due to their promotion practices.
“Now Perez and Obama himself are being hoisted on the very petard they have been using as a cudgel against private employers.”
