Xerox Corporation's $($Xerox$)$ Balanced Workforce Initiative $($BWF$)$ involved the publication of specific affirmative action goals for each job and each salary grade level within the company. This plan was started in the $1990$s in an effort to ensure proportional representation of all racial and gender groups throughout the company. The BWFs were based on government labor force data and established annually. Part of the annual performance evaluation for managers was how well they met the desired racial and gender compositions for their locations. In one instance, reports compiled for the Houston office indicated that black employees were overrepresented and white employees were underrepresented. To correct this imbalance, over a period of five years, steps were taken to reduce the percentage of black employees in the office.

Six black employees filed suit against Xerox, stating that they were denied promotion opportunities even though they were qualified for the jobs into which they wanted to be promoted. They also indicated that they believed the BWF adversely affected their opportunity for advancement.

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