The total losses due to the lawsuits are estimated in the billions of dollars, with racial discrimination being the primary factor. The emotional cost is inestimable. In order for an organization to count on the respect and top performance of all its employees to help compete in a global marketplace it must rid itself of the past stigma and reality of discrimination and harassment. All workers deserve the right to work in an environment that is free of discrimination and harassment. Such infractions are not always self-evident.
Discriminatory practices are often so subtle that they are difficult to recognize.
The staggering number of lawsuits resulting from the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 forced organizations to give more thought to actions they could take to diminish the number of lawsuits and remove discrimination from the workplace. This act, signed into law by President George Bush in November of 1991, was enacted as a response to a number of Supreme Court decisions that limited enforcement of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and thereby created a heavier burden for plaintiffs. Some or all of these strategies are still being used, but the one that has generated the greatest amount of controversy has been diversity training. Many believe that diversity training, in some settings, may even have led to more divisiveness for several reasons. The programs are frequently guilt-driven and contain endless examples of grave injustices done by one group to another which tends to polarize the different groups into victims and oppressors, which in turn increases resentment among the groups rather than reducing it.