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These days, our media is awash in stories of plant closings, massive lay offs, and companies cutting their budgets any way they can.  But despite the urgency with which companies are trying to save themselves, management needs to take a hard look at the long-term effects of cutting what may now seem a non-critica cost.  Namely, that of diversity and compliance trainings.

A Diversity Executive article makes the case for committing to diversity trainings in spite of tough economic times, especially in the wake of increased discrimination charges.

“When you see the unemployment rate going up at the rate it is, employers can just expect almost on a mathematical basis to see a precipitous rise in discrimination lawsuits,” Atkins said.

“People sue and bring claims when they feel they’ve been treated badly and when their alternatives are scarce,” she explained. “Obviously, in a bad economy when there are fewer jobs, the likelihood of you becoming a litigant is much higher because you don’t have a better-paying job to go to.”

Cutting diversity and compliance training programs could seem like a financially sound step, but it could prove detrimental to the organization in the long term.

In fact, the number of discrimination charges in the private sector rose by 15.2 percent from fiscal year 2007 to 2008, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Lawsuits filed targeted legislation from the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 and the Equal Pay Act of 1964.

To read the entire article, click here.