Litigation Management

The truth is, companies who diversify
and foster an inclusive culture that
maintains the diversity have a better
bottom line than those that don’t.

ment, because the exclusivity itself can be as harmful to your business as actual discrimination.

as the Commissioner/Chair of the NYC Commission on Human Rights, and how her experiences growing up inform the work she does today:

“I think about diversity issues every
day. The Commission is the mayoral
agency charged with the enforcement
of the NYC Human Rights Law —
one of the most comprehensive civil
rights laws in the nation. It speaks
to the world how New Yorkers view
their city and their neighbors. So
while the enforcement of the law is
my professional responsibility and
obligation, diversity issues — and the
lack of diversity — are very personal
for me. I have witnessed firsthand the
Jim Crow racial caste system of segre-
gation, and the destruction it caused
— as a young child growing up in
Mississippi and as an attorney start-
ing out in New York City.”
ronment. Businesses must support an
environment that embraces the power
of multicultural talent, intellectual
capital and diversity in its people, as
well as an environment with a strong
generational balance in its workforce.
So, it isn’t enough to recruit the ‘right,’
smart, eager people, because once we
get them there, we want them to stay
and succeed. To do so, the right cul-
tural messages and signals are always
critical. Successful companies strive
for inclusiveness. The truth is, compa-
nies who diversify and foster an inclu-
sive culture that maintains the diversi-
ty have a better bottom line than those
that don’t.

So to the companies that claim that they don’t get enough qualified applicants, my response is: FIND THEM. There are no excuses. We located qualified applicants in Brooklyn after years of that office being dominated by Caucasian males. Of course, that was only because we had the strength at the top — a leader who was steadfast in his goal to create a diverse and inclusive agency. If the leaders of all organizations have the same goals, they will locate a diverse group of applicants.”

In conclusion, Commissioner Gatling
left her audience with some historical
perspective on diversity and inclusion:
In talking about moving beyond the
perception and legislation issues that
define the diversity and inclusion
discourse of the day, Commissioner
Gatling challenged audience members
to work to change the workplace climate
from within:

I’d like to quote a study conducted by
the Utah Task Force on Racial and
Ethnic Fairness in the Legal System,
which concluded that, “the perception
of bias, even if it is groundless, is as
damaging as actual bias.” So, the argu-
ment that some employers may make
— essentially that they don’t intention-
ally discriminate and they don’t mean
to be exclusive — is not a valid argu-
“We have to expand our efforts to
ensure that our businesses and institu-
tions are inclusive. And that takes us
beyond just following the letter of the
law. We have all been trained to think
about protected classes — like race,
color, religion, disability or gender —
whenever we think about diversity and
inclusiveness. These protected classes
reflect the basic elements of a person’s
identity and have formed the founda-
tion of our important anti-discrim-
ination laws, but we have additional
considerations in the workplace envi-

So to the
companies that
claim that they
don’t get enough
qualified
applicants, my
response is:
FIND THEM.

“Let us not forget the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He did not merely say that institutions that are inclusive thrive in ways that exclusive institutions cannot — he said that institutions that are intentionally inclusive thrive in ways that exclusive institutions cannot. The intentional inclusion of all people shows that we understand the legitimate business need of diversity and appreciate our ever-changing, often challenging, world! We can’t just sit back, content with routine processes. If we want to thrive, we must act. We all must act upon the words and example of another great leader, Ghandi when he said, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’

Patricia Gatling is the Commissioner and Chair of the New York City Commission on Human Rights under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. She is in charge of enforcing the Human Rights Law and combatting discrimination in New York City. She is formerly the First Assistant District Attorney at the Kings County (NY) District Attorney’s Office. Gatling is an active participant in many international, educational and community outreach programs and is a widely respected speaker.