For the sake of meeting the quota for black applicants for head coaching jobs in the NFL, two teams are accused of fabricating interviews with Brian Flores. He claims unlawful discrimination in employment on the part of the National Football League and three specific clubs and has therefore filed a lawsuit against them. He claims to have observed two “sham job interviews,” which he uses as proof. The views of other black instructors indicate that this strategy is extensively diffused. 

Even though the Rooney Rule was meant to increase the number of black managers in the league by making teams interview black applicants, there is only one black head coach in a league where most of the players are black.

EEOC – Office of Equal Opportunity

Despite the fact that the regulation makes it illegal for employers to demonstrate bias based on race, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission does not seem to be speaking out against fake interviews. As stated by federal law, it is illegal to treat an employee differently because of their race or color in the workplace. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says that tear sheets should be kept in a safe place away from application forms.

Rooney Rules

While opinions on the Rooney Rule’s implementation in the NFL are split, the policy’s widespread adoption in the corporate world has been met with little resistance. Employers who have implemented a Rooney Rule-like policy are obligated to consider at least one minority and one female applicant for each open post, even executive-level ones. McKinsey & Co. found that businesses with the most racial diversity had the highest average profits.

Taking it seriously

The Rooney Rules should be taken seriously by all businesses. Researchers found that there was almost no chance of hiring a person of color when there was only one candidate of color for the position but that the odds increased when there were two or more. Last year, a top executive search firm found a major weakness in the Rooney Rules’ logic: they may see diversity as a duty rather than a value. The Rooney Rule might be satisfied with as little as one interview with a candidate from a diverse background. An expert on diversity and inclusion named Nicole Sanchez told USA Today that the system might be gamed with relative ease. Usually, this causes the respondent to exclaim, “Great.” 

We ended our conversation about race. Just how genuine was that effort? This raises doubts about the reliability of the source. It appears from the data that the response is yes far too frequently.