5 ms·
Is there actually any US law against discrimination based on political stance?
by falcor84 9y ago
Is there actually any US law against discrimination based on political stance?
- creaghpatr 9y agoIn California, yes
- falcor84 9y agoCould you please provide more detail?
- xexers 9y agohttps://www.employmentattorneyla.com/blog/2017/06/can-you-be-fired-for-expressing-your-political-views-in-california.shtml https://www.employmentattorneyla.com/blog/2017/06/can-you-be...
- creaghpatr 9y agohttps://www.employmentattorneyla.com/blog/2017/06/can-you-be-fired-for-expressing-your-political-views-in-california.shtml https://www.employmentattorneyla.com/blog/2017/06/can-you-be... TLDR: yes, and there are certain exceptions, IANAL so not sure where this particular case falls
- falcor84 9y agoThanks, that's interesting. This in particular may be relevant to the case: "However, there are exceptions. For instance, if you participate in a political activity that creates a conflict of interest with your employer's business model, your job could potentially be on the line"
- mikeryan 9y agoThe Law is here (at least according to your link) http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=LAB§ionNum=1101 http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection... The whole thing here emphasis mine: No employer shall make, adopt, or enforce any rule, regulation, or policy: (a) Forbidding or preventing employees from engaging or participating in politics or from becoming candidates for public office. (b) Controlling or directing, or tending to control or direct the political activities or affiliations of employees. It seems that Google has to have a specific policy in place for this law to be triggered, which does not seem to be the claim being made.
- stcredzero 9y agoIt seems that Google has to have a specific policy in place for this law to be triggered, which does not seem to be the claim being made. No. It would be enough for there to be a demonstrated consistent set of actions in a specific direction. Otherwise, many other laws could be made moot by companies not having a specific written policy, but still carrying out such actions.
- throwawayjava 9y agohttp://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=LAB§ionNum=1101 http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection... It's not super clear to me that this would protect Damore, but IANAL.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- nsnick 9y agoI don’t know about the US, but there is a California law against employer descrimination for expressing a political viewpoint
- vorotato 9y agoThey aren't a federally protected group according to this list. This particular situation though is extra hairy because even if it was religious the offended parties could argue that a protection is not a license to advocate discrimination. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_group
- jstanley 9y agoGood job he wasn't advocating discrimination then
- vorotato 9y agoHe'll have to explain that to a jury, and I've read the memo that claim is not abundantly clear.
- iamatworknow 9y agoGoogle will settle this long before it goes to a jury.
- vorotato 9y agoArgument by assertion, bold.
- evgen 9y agoNot at the national level. In California the Fair Employment and Housing Act has a few nebulous clauses regarding political affiliation, but not enough to make a real case. For the most part political affiliation is not a protected category and in some cases an employer is allowed to explicitly discriminate based upon political affiliation (e.g. the CA Republican party can decide not to hire you because you have been a registered Democrat for the past decade, etc.)
- dragonwriter 9y agoNo, but California has a law against employers controlling, directing, or coercing political activity (or abstention therefrom) by employees (Labor Code Secs. 1101-1102.)
- vkou 9y agoNo, but there are laws against employing someone who publishes (internally or otherwise) memoranda that creates a hostile working environment for a protected class. More specifically, had Google not fired him, they'd be getting sued by other employees. PS. Being told that "You are only here because you're a diversity hire, you can't actually do the work," is creating a hostile working environment.
- alexanderstears 9y agoIt's interesting that it's hostile to say "you are only here because you're a diversity hire" but "you only got the job because you are a white male" isn't understood to be as hostile. At some point, we're going to have to decide whether we're committed to equality among protected classes or not.