I think the state certainly needs to interfere with employment decisions, in instances of racial and sexual discrimination
Unfortunately for your position, racial and sexual discrimination were almost completely destroyed by free(ish) markets. Then the government regulated (ostensibly) to stop racial and sexual discrimination and actually caused it to increase.
Minimum wage, for example, is currently defended by democrats to help the poor and minority populations. The origin, however, was explicitly racist.
Roughly from 1900 to 1930, the effects of slavery were eliminated from our economy as the unemployment rate among blacks was lower than whites. Then whites used their political control to push blacks out of labor markets by restricting supply of labor (by an increase in the cost AKA minimum wage). So the racial discrimination in job markets that we see today is caused by, not eliminated by, state interference.
Gender discrimination in job markets was expunged from most industries in the US economy from the 1940's to the 1970's. When you compare equal work, men and women get equal pay.
Of course that requires real statistics instead of the nonsense that feminists and congresspersons spout. So the "Gender Pay Gap" crowd adds up the pay of all women and divides by the total number of women then does the same with men... That is not equal work - why would they expect equal pay?
They might as well be comparing a woman with 30 years experience as a lawyer to a 19 year old male garbageman. It is not equal work, why would they have equal pay?
When you compare a never married woman with 10 years of experience to a never married man with 10 years of experience (same schooling, same certs, all full time work, etc.) then you find, all the way back to the '70s, that men and women earn almost exactly the same (within 2%) and sometimes women earning more.
So, now we have laws that push more benefits and wages to women... so now they're getting more money... so yes, there is gender discrimination - it is caused by government interference and it is against men.
Also, with the increased costs of hiring a woman due to state and federal regulations, employers who cannot afford to have a woman get pregnant will not hire a woman who might get pregnant. So yeah, there is gender discrimination against women, too - but caused by the government.
or in cases where termination is clearly retaliation for an employee's lawful action such as whistle-blowing.
Really want to talk about that? The government is 10x worse than private employers - especially the Obama administration.
If not, imagine where we'd be in the decades following the Civil Rights Act, etc.,
Again, the data are clear, blacks were better off between 1900 and 1930 than whites were (1930 was the last time black unemployment was lower than white unemployment) and blacks were relatively better off then than they are (economically speaking).
if employers could still put up a "WHITES ONLY" sign when seeking applicants.
No doubt this happened - I am not denying that. But the data are very clear. Firms that did this lost business - regularly. Regularly racist employers begrudgingly hired blacks because they were better workers than whites and were able to work for less than whites (which was a great improvement over their previous employment). That's why whites passed minimum wage - and it worked exactly as those racist, white, democrat, union leaders wanted it to. Ever wonder why unions are the only ones who testify in congress in support of increases in minimum wage? You can also read the Davis Bacon act if you want further proof.
The main Civil Rights Act was signed into law and pushed by a racist (Lyndon B Johns) who explicitly stated: "I'll have those niggers voting democrat for 200 years."
Care to continue?
Perhaps political affiliation is going too far, perhaps it's not, but total state non-interference? It's not (no pun intended) a black-and-white issue, there has to be a shade of grey, I'm honestly shocked that if you are an attorney you don't see it this way.
It is a cut-and-dry issue - the data are very clear. Each state and federal legislator has only 2 things in mind, their own power and purse. Would it surprise you that the Congressional Black Caucus regularly works with openly racist whites in order to get their own agenda through? This has been admitted by CBC members... Black Congresspersons don't care about black people... They care about their own power and purse.