The American Jewish Committee charged today that the new Federal “Guidelines on Discrimination Because of Religion or National Origin” represent “a substantial retreat on the part of the government” in its efforts to end religious discrimination by companies with Federal contracts. The complaint was made in a letter from Philip E. Hoffman, president of the AJ Committee, and Harold S. Bigler, chairman of its National Business and Industry Committee to John L. Wilks, director of the US Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance.
The letter claimed that the new guidelines “would cancel out essential provisions” contained in the guidelines issued on May 20,1971 and urged that the former guidelines be reinstated. Hoffman and Bigler charged that the new guidelines relied on voluntary rather than compulsory actions by employers to eliminate religious discrimination against Jews and Catholics, particularly in management level jobs and removed the requirement for making “reasonable job accommodations of religious needs and observances.”
They said further, that by extending the guidelines to all employers, however small, enforcement was made more difficult and the emphasis was removed from “executive suite” jobs, “the area where it was most needed.” The AJ Committee noted that the proposed guidelines eliminated the requirement that government contractors “be aware of the religious minorities in their work force, identify employment problems related to religion, and institute programs to eliminate all vestiges of religious discrimination.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
