So much for discrimination laws

Jan 22 2008 by Derek Torres Print This Article

It's always troubling when America fails to act like the beacon of reason, freedom, and democracy that she is supposed to represent. What I'm talking about is a case that is currently before the United States Supreme Court involving a plaintiff who was fired from her job for reporting unwanted sexual harassment.

Now you and I both know that this wasn't officially the reason for her unplanned departure; on the books, it was called "negligence of duty".

The plaintiff's attorneys will correctly argue that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should protect employees who report illegal or unethical behavior in the workplace from any type of discrimination.

While this law was initially designed to protect workers from discrimination due to race, religion, sex, or handicap, it was also designed to protect works who filed official grievances for discrimination.

The courts currently lower on the food chain have repeatedly gone against the high court, which, according to the cited article in the first paragraph, has regularly encouraged employers to encourage to confidentially file reports on such behavior.

The logic of these courts is that the law doesn't apply to internal investigations performed either by the company or outside organizations.

In other words, they are saying that the plaintiff should have continued to endure lewd comments and gestures, continue to endure humiliating treatment and loss of dignity if she wanted to maintain her job. If anyone can figure out the logic of these boneheads, please comment and help me understand.