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Richard Arneson argues against the right to be hired on the basis of competence. He is concerned with academic appointments, but his comments would apply to other employers. He writes as follows:

Is the norm of careers open to talents plausibly regarded as an individual right? . . . .

A private-sector university, like any private-sector firm, is morally free to pursue its own purposes by means of its policies, including its hiring policies, within the broad limits of legitimate state law and policy. . . . A religiously chartered university might have as its announced goal the provision of adequate education to members of its faith in an environment that is supportive of the faith. Such a university might sensibly seek to hire faculty who share (or are sympathetic to) that religious faith besides meeting academic qualifications.

Arneson goes on to distinguish between a right and an ideal. He then attempts to show that the notion that individuals have a right to be selected on the basis of their talent has unacceptable consequences.

The ideal of meritocracy or careers open to talents is just that --an ideal, one among many, which we are at liberty to accept, reject, or partially accept as a compromise with other competing values. Why suppose that the talented have special rights of access to property owned by others via a right that the most qualified applicant shall be selected for any job slot that an owner might wish to define and fill? One way to appreciate the strength and oddity of the right that is being claimed is to ask why this meritocratic right of access, if accepted at all, should be limited to the right to be chosen in competitions for job slots designed by legitimate owners. . . .

One wonders why, if there is a right of meritocracy, it does not include the right of the most qualified designer to design job slots that would then be filled by the most qualified applicants.

Reference: From Richard Arneson "Preferential Treatment Versus Meritocratic Rights" in Affirmative Action and the University edited by Steven Cahn, p. 159-161.