ita, I was being flip, and not entirely clear, I think. No, they can't legally discriminate for being white and or male, but, much like sexual harassment against men, it's probably hard enough to demonstrate in court as to be a not terribly meaningful protection.

As I understand the situation in my state, the racial and sexual aspects of the discrimination law are symmetric, but the age part is asymmetric. That is, a Black manager is no more allowed fire all of the White people in his unit than a White manager is allowed to fire all of the Black people. Similarly, if a manager decides that people over 40 lack the drive and energy to do the job, and she fires all of them without showing that their performance is substandard, she has violated the law. But if the same manager decides that people in their 20s lack the maturity to do the job she is welcome to fire them. That’s because the law specifically prohibits age discrimination against people over 40, not age discrimination in general.

Age is not so much a protected class; employees close to retirement are. Oh, ERISA.

etac:

much like sexual harassment against men, it's probably hard enough to demonstrate in court as to be a not terribly meaningful protection

Do you really think it's hard to prove sexual harassment against men? I can totally see where a guy would have piles of a different sort of embarassment about pressing charges no matter the gender of the harasser, but the acts themselves seem they'd be pretty clear. And the jury would probably really be on his side if the harasser was a guy.

Oh, argh, Allyson. Mom would totally second your emotion. As do I, but...not like, first-hand. This is the kind of shit that makes people think I'm "lucky" for being home all day, right?

I thought we were talking about sex discrimination, not sexual harrassment. (As in, "I was fired because my boss hates men," not "I was fired because I refused to sleep with my boss.")

I think the first would be incredibly difficult to prove, the second much less so.

You have a subsidized caf, don't you?

We had one for the longest time, and yeah, it was really cheap. And crappy. Then this caterer came in and bought out the contract and started serving a much more limited, but seriously gourmet menu. I mean, she serves on actual china. And ingredients are fresh, not from 5 gallon cans wrapped in white labels! And the prices went up by at least a factor of two, lets say.

Oh, the howls of pain from the same people who routinely expense lunches at the pricey restaurants in the hotels across the street for conferences. But their own money?

Now, I'll admit, I bitched when I could no longer get a cheese sandwich for $2, having to pay $7 for one. But that's because the cheese sandwiches are now leash-walked- goat cheese with pesto mayo whipped while italian arias soar, foreign, rare baby lettuce lovingly coaxed from the earth at midnight on some fancy bread whose wheat was whispered to each night under the moon. Or something. It's good. But it's not a cheap cheese sandwich .

I thought we were talking about sex discrimination, not sexual harrassment.

Topic drift. I was responding to brenda:

much like sexual harassment against men, it's probably hard enough to demonstrate in court as to be a not terribly meaningful protection

I just haven't gone back to add the context yet.

Sorry about the frustration Allyson, although I have to admit to being a little freaked out about paying eight bucks for a hamburger.

Do you really think it's hard to prove sexual harassment against men? I can totally see where a guy would have piles of a different sort of embarassment about pressing charges no matter the gender of the harasser, but the acts themselves seem they'd be pretty clear. And the jury would probably really be on his side if the harasser was a guy.

Things might have changed, but I do remember seeing some really appalling stories where men claiming harassment (in this case by other men, for effeminacy (sp?)), were basically told by the company to suck it up, and by at least one judge that since they were all men, there was no basis for a claim. Like I said, I don't know if that's still the case anymore. One would hope not.