You are suppose to have diverse offices there, not a bunch of clones.

When I started there our unit was a hispanic female manager, ex-boss (female, but funky, not in the blonde republican mode LA Boss favors), ex-coworker (gay, black, 40s) and me.

Now it's pretty much wall-to-wall blonde country club republicans and southern california women (new coworker).

They can fire you for being white or male?

Race and sex are both protected classes, so you could definitely make a claim if you could prove you'd been discriminated against because you are white or male. To be honest, the stink they made about me and ex-coworker being hired does indicate an institutional anti-male bias in HR at least.

Though every so often some guy sues Hooters or somewhere for not letting him pole dance.

Yeah, that was me. Sorry. When my muse calls, I must obey!

Sorry your former employers were such arse-hats, David. Good luck with the writing life - I really hope something good for you comes out of all of this.

I wish I could say that the cack-handedness of HR surprises me, but I cannot. Our HR office is located far too close to mine and the walls are too thin...

Good luck finding someone to quit to, shrift!

Alas for David's foolish ex-bosses. Really, there are other ways to muscle out an old regime without making yourself look like a twerp. Also, the lying thing is kind of a forgiveness-killer.

OTOH, hurray for Shrift's foolish soon-to-be-ex-bosses. They are so foolish, they will have to bring in somebody else to find their jaws from off the floor.

I feel the need to state for the record that I am wearing a dress and no pantyhose today. In another 1/2 hour, I will go eat lunch outside in the sun.

Not that it's likely, but pretty much, yeah. Though every so often some guy sues Hooters or somewhere for not letting him pole dance.

Race and sex are both protected classes, so you could definitely make a claim if you could prove you'd been discriminated against because you are white or male.

What they said. We actually talked about Hooters in my HR class last year.

They can fire you for being white or male?

Haven't done the research, but the statute says no discrimination on the basis of race or sex, not no discrimination against any specific race or sex.

And I can't remember a cite for the cases that say (1) sexual harassment = sex discrimination, and (2) sexual harassment of a male is illegal sexual harassment.

I can see not getting hired because you're the wrong gender, but getting fired--Hec says what I figured--protected class.

Hec, I'm sorry to hear all this is happening to you. Best of luck at turning it into something that kickstarts you towards more fulfillment.

Looks like the guy who dumped the meeting on me (without giving me any prep stuff) has had the meeting dumped back on him. Excellent to hear. I still have to attend (although I don't know why), but at least I don't need to pretend to have a clue.

eta:

What they said.

Didn't they contradict each other?

Good luck finding someone to quit to, shrift!

They better not make me e-mail this bad boy.

No, what they each said reflected the fact that employment decisions can't be made on the basis of race, gender, veteran's status, etc, whatever else is in the law, which is my understanding. You can't hire or fire someone for being a man or for being a woman, either way.

Edit: Of course the laws were made to protect the people in the groups that are traditionally discriminated against, but they apply to everyone.

Not that it's likely, but pretty much, yeah.

Yeah, I was kind of speaking in terms of effect there - no, they can't out and out, but I'm guessing it's a much harder thing to prove/prevail in court if they do.

What they said. We actually talked about Hooters in my HR class last year.

Have y'all heard that Hooters Air is shutting down (except for chartered flights)?