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inuing to reorganize and has lost over 42,000 jobs since the start of 2007. In the technology sec- tor, Hewlett-Packard announced the elimination of almost 25,000 jobs, 7.5 percent of its workforce. Dell Inc. fol- lowed with a reduction of 10 percent of its payroll, or approximately 9,000, and Sun Microsystems announced an 18 percent reduction, impacting 6,000 employees. The overall economic slowdown and market dynamics are also severely impacting the retail and travel industries, with retail losing 110,000 jobs in the third quarter. Five Steps to Manage Diversity and Minimize Risk During Restructuring Given die wide-ranging restructuring efforts under way as well as those still being planned, implementing the following five steps can reduce the risk of lawsuits, optimize efficiency gains, and assist in the retention of high-potential employees. Diversity considerations are incorporated into each of these steps and reflect what diversity-diought leaders have long maintained, that leading practices in diversity management are also good business practices that can be implemented more broadly across the enterprise. 1. Establish a Plan: Manage Restructuring Proactively to Minimize Risk. The first step to minimize risk in corporate restructuring is to analyze and document the need for restructuring. These are business-oriented objectives designed to strategically position the corporation for future growth and achieve more immediate cost efficiencies. Once the business objectives have been identified and documented, the next task is to develop the restructuring plan. Strategic cost efficiencies can be achieved through streamlining processes, consolidating services, reducing redundancies, reorganizing product/service development and distribution, decreasing administrative costs, etc. The more comprehensive a restructuring plan, the more courts will recognize the business objectives driving the restructuring and the related downsizing. Corporate management should lead the development of the restructuring plan working closely with HR leadership and legal counsel. The need for identifying and documenting the business needs driving the restructuring efforts and the factors to be used in making the decisions, as well as the reasonableness of the factors, was recently emphasized by the U.S. Supreme Court in Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory et al., 554 U.S. ___ , 128 SCt. 2395 . After Knolls laid off 31 employees, 30 of whom were at least 40 years old, suit was filed claiming violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. In shifting the burden to employers, the Court held that an employer facing a disparate-impact claim must produce evidence that its decision was based on reasonable factors other than age. The case underscores that for disparate-impact cases, the issue is the result rather than the employer's intent. Accordingly, employers must place even greater emphasis on the business rationale of the selection process and criteria. Regarding the potential risk involved with a reduction in force (RIF), courts throughout the country have generally stated that courts should not take on the role of a "super-personnel department" second-guessing corporate decisions and objectives. At the same time, courts are also significantly more likely to rule in favor of employers in resulting litigation when employment decisions are based on written restructuring plans that are consistently followed and implemented. To further minimize ris