A few days ago, the Offspring and I went to [Mexican Restaurant]. Being an HR professional who has dealt with the OFCCP far too often, I immediately noticed a problem: 75% of the people eating there were adult males.*
Now, this must not be due to any free will among the patrons, so I did what any good citizen would do: I contacted the OFCCP. Here is their response:
Dear Evil HR Lady,
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We immediately launched an investigation and this is what we determined regarding .
[Mexican Restaurant] admits that they do not monitor the gender of everyone who walks in their door. This is unacceptable. How do we know if we are not discriminating if we don’t count and categorize everyone who walks in? [Mexican Restaurant] admits that their children’s menu does not include macaroni and cheese or chicken nuggets. They claim that it is their choice to serve “Mexican” food only. We say this causes a disparate impact, as noted by the lack of toddlers in the restaurant. We also questioned them as to why they thought that it was sufficient to only serve “Mexican” food. What about the rest of Latin America? The investigation over whether Guatamalens are harmed by this is still underway. [Mexican Restaurant] acknowledges that the person working the counter was female. This clearly attracts males–and not only males, but heterosexual males. While at the present, we don’t monitor the sexual orientation of people (but we are thinking about it), this is a concern to us. [Mexican Restaurant] admits to serving “spicy” foods. They also acknowledge that men tend to prefer spicy foods more than women do. They also admit that pregnant or nursing women may have to stay away from spicy food due to heartburn and upset babies. Again, they claim this is an untintentional slight, but we are still concerned. We thank you for bringing this to our attention. We will be working with [Mexican Restaurant] to bring them into compliance on this very important issue.
Sincerely,
OFCCP
*Everything past here is made up. And the food was great, by they way.
And THIS is why I love to read your blog. Your “armor of anonymity” lets you say those things that the rest of fervently agree with but don’t for fear of OFCCP retaliatory strikes… oops – I mean OFCCP guidance!!
Keep the faith, my HR sister!
There is an advantage to being anonymous.
Please don’t write things like this. You might give “those people” ideas.
Sorry. I don’t know what came over me.
I was talking to a recently divorced friend yesterday, and will pass the data re: ratio of men:women to her.
If you or anyone you know is familiar with the new (okay published last year or so) OFCCP guidelines for internet recruiting, I think you’d agree with me that the people at the OFCCP are about 11 tacos short of a full dozen.
Loved the post.