“So, what’s the best defense to a discrimination claim?…”

“…Hire others in the same protected group.” [Jon Hyman, Ohio Employer’s Law Blog] Wait a minute. Isn’t that discrimination? And if, as Jon Hyman argues with some show of logic, employers have a strong incentive to follow this advice in replacing a dismissed employee given the way courts currently handle bias complaints, should we be disturbed that the law is itself encouraging discrimination?

5 Comments

  • It’s about time someone pointed this out. All the law seems to care is that one person in a protected class is replaced by another in the same class. Welcome to the absurd results of employment law.

  • If the market price for women is 20% less than that for men, then every act of discrimination against women would cost an employer 20% more than necessary. Bob is right in his comment when he says that employment law has absurd results.

  • So let’s get this straight..

    1. Company discriminates against a protected employee.
    2. Company hires someone from same class of protection to replace lost employee.
    3. People blame the law.

    Are you all gullible enough to think that discrimination will end if the law is changed? Derp.

  • Mikee, your problem is that you assume step 1 was “Company discriminates against a protected employee” and not simply “Company fires, or fails to hire, someone who just happened to be in a protected group”.

  • Love your simplistic logic Mikee….in reality what Company does is:

    1. Fires poor performing employee; and,
    2. Discriminates against all non-protected applicants in favor of an applicant in the same protected category as the poor performing employee who just left.

    So, Company discriminates to avoid a discrimination claim. Why? B/c replacing the poor performing protected-class employee with someone outside of their protected class is prima facie evidence of discrimination which then triggers the McDonnell Douglas burden shifting scheme.

    Of course, many on the left consider this a feature, not a bug.