Roundup: Phish, employee handbooks, adverse actions in discrimination cases, reporting race and gender, inclusion, accommodating neurodivergence
Salary.com Compensation and Pay Equity Law Review
Our editor, employment lawyer Heather Bussing, is tracking legislation, cases, and analysis to give you the latest critical HR topics.
This week we're answering the questions:
- What does the band Phish have to do with employee handbooks and why isn't there ice cream?
- How much harm does an employee have to show in a discrimination case?
- What if discrimination is the harm?
- How do you report race or gender if you don't know?
- Is sanctimony inclusive?
- What if you can't accommodate a disability?
Phish Food for Thought
No policy at all is far more defensible than a hard rule with no exceptions that nobody enforces and is trotted out after the fact. The biggest place this comes up is with leave issues. After all, what if one of your employees needs to go on a quest to find the Helping Friendly Book?
What Is An Adverse Action Under Discrimination Law?
In this case, the Supreme Court is trying to figure whether the employment decision to make the lateral transfer caused something bad to happen to the person who was transferred. What this framing ignores is that discrimination is bad in and of itself.
Discrimination always causes harm. The practical issue is always about power and whether the decision maker used it fairly. But that's not always the legal framing—even in discrimination law.
Determining Race and Gender for Reporting
Initially, California allowed you to state "unknown." But that makes the data less useful. So, California now requires people to state a specific race and gender even though it may make all the information less accurate. It's the problem with putting people into data—they never really fit.
When Your Inclusion Policy Makes You A Jerk
Listening before responding, considering other views, being open to questions from people with different life experiences are all essential to inclusion and healthy relationships. And so are disagreements.
When You Can't Accommodate A Disability
In employment, neurodivergent people can often do things that neurotypical people can't. The tech industry is full of weird and quirky people who are neurodivergent. So are the arts. And sometimes, neurodivergent people also need accommodations.
