The Exception For No Exceptions

RuthAnn Milbert

4/23/2010

Lynne Lerych

English 101

Essay Draft #1

The Exception For No Exceptions

With a law that declares that a state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to anyone due to race, sex, etc. it’s hard to think of a reason that would exempt someone, but RCW 49.60.400 does almost immediately. Can this law actually be a good thing if it can’t even exist without wavering to multiple exceptions?

RCW 49.60.400 was created on December 3, 1998 with the purpose of stopping discrimination or granting preferential treatment to people in public employment, public education, and public contracting due to race, sex, ethnicity, or where the originated from. The basic idea of equality among the public can obviously be thought of as a positive one, but it’s limited. RCW 49.60.400 doesn’t affect any lawful classification that is based on sex and is necessary for sexual privacy or medical/psychological treatments, provides separate athletic teams determined by sex, or is needed for police or other law enforcement that is undercover or audio, video, theatrical casting, or film.

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Basis of the laws that aren’t affected by RCW 49.60.400 aren’t the only restrictions. Time is also against the law. This law doesn’t effect any action taken before December 3, 1998. So regardless of how many times this law may have been violated previous to this date, it is unable to take action. Its inability to validate any court order that is in force as of December 3, 1998 is another blow for justice. How can equality be achieved if there’s a deadline on it? A person that lost their job due to their race may not have won their case before this law was made if they’d gone to court over it and since that court had made an order as a result (prior to the law being made) that is in force, the person who had been unjustly fired can’t even benefit when this law was made.

The limitations and restrictions are not always a negative thing though. RCW 49.60.400 doesn’t restrict actions that are needed to establish or keep eligibility for any federal program, if ineligibility would end up resulting in losses of federal funding to the state it’s representing. So as long as there’s money involved or the threat of loosing funding, there’s a silver lining!

It seems almost useless for the government to even bother making such a law if it’s defined more by it’s lack of power to change then its original purpose, stopping discrimination and giving preferential treatment to certain people and groups. Curiously it doesn’t make it clear to what level this law effects the public. Does it simply stop at making it illegal to not hire someone because they’re not white or does this also mean the end to affirmative action?

RCW 49.60.400 may have started out with good intentions, but without more clarity or definite structures for the public to work with it might as well just still be a good idea. True, employers have been more thoughtful when it comes to their hiring practices since the passing of this law, but couldn’t it do so much more for society then just that?