Fair Hiring Practices

Fair hiring practices involve not being able to discriminate against someone when hiring
them for employment. This can include discrimination against gender, age, race, disability, and
religion. Fair hiring practices have been put into law by the federal government in order to
eliminate, or at least reduce, discrimination in the workplace. Companies may also have their
own individual fair hiring practices, in addition to the laws of the federal government. For
example, discrimination against sexual orientation is not covered under the federal fair hiring
regulations, but certain companies may include sexual orientation as a protected category under
their own policies.
According to NASW, social justice is the view that everyone deserves equal economic,
political, and social rights and opportunities. Fair hiring practices fall in line with the values of
social justice because they encourage equal opportunities for all people in regards to
employment. Fair hiring practices ensure that each person, regardless of race, gender, age,
disability, or other factors has an equal opportunity of being employed as everybody else. Fair
hiring practices emphasize the idea of economic rights and opportunities because fair hiring
practices regard employment opportunities for all people and, therefore, influence the salaries
and economic power of those they affects.
Fair hiring practices do not much take into account the idea of political rights and
opportunities that are regarded by social justice. Fair hiring practices can only ensure so much
social justice for the people that they affect, and, unfortunately, political rights and opportunities
are outside the realm of control. Another contrast between fair hiring practices and the values of
social justice is that, according to the federal government, fair hiring practices only protect

against discrimination among a distinct group of categories, whereas social justice opposes
discrimination in all of its possible forms.