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'Old white guy' can move forward with workplace bias suit against AT&T

reuters.com

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Re: 'Old white guy' can move forward with workplace bias suit against AT&T

#21

Post by cmeacham98 »

derevaunseraun wrote: post #19
MontyCarloHall wrote: post #13

>The complaint recounts an incident, for instance, about Johnson telling DiBenedetto in 2020 that he expected to retire in a couple of years. DiBenedetto said he was interested in applying for his boss’ job. Johnson allegedly noted DiBenedetto’s short "runway." According to DiBenedetto, the boss said, “In these roles, you know, you've got to be able to adapt and move, and I'm not saying you can't, but a 58-year-old w…

> Oof. Seems like an open and shut case if that last quote (or others of its ilk) can be proven to have been said. If he was in a one party consent state for audio recording, he should've recorded it.

In hindsight this is obviously true, but I doubt many people record every conversation they have with their boss (I guess maybe they should just in case?)

Re: 'Old white guy' can move forward with workplace bias suit against AT&T

#22

Post by derevaunseraun »

colordrops wrote: post #18
collegeburner wrote: post #4

About damn time. The fact that people can talk casually about "old white men" or whatever shows that they are being racist, sexist and agephobic. Maybe there isn't the same historical power imbalance but factoring that kind of thing into hiring or firing decisions is still a deontological wrong. I hope he wins and I hope that everybody who has been discriminated out of a job because they are white/black/man/woman/nb/…

Sure. The biggest flaw in all this thinking is that an individual should suffer because an arbitrary grouping they're placed in historically has been abusive or advantaged, even if the individual is neither. And the groupings are usually flawed. For instance I'm an Arab, and have been discriminated against and even beaten for it. My ancestors are not Yale alumni ex-slave owner families, and I've never gotten a job fo…

> Yet I'm classified as "white", which is absurd and shows that racial groups are absurd, and not even a scientifically acknowledged phenomenon, but just a social construct

Who's doing the classifying? Most of the time it's you checking a box in some application form

If it's just a social construct, theoretically what's stopping you from identifying as a different race? An honor system?

Since there is no legal assignment of race, what's keeping people from just lying?

Re: 'Old white guy' can move forward with workplace bias suit against AT&T

#23

Post by chitowneats »

striking wrote: post #17
__blockcipher__ wrote: post #5

> You can call it the paradox of the old white guy: Employees who have historically been entrenched in the majority are also entitled to protection under laws that were intended to assure equal treatment for women and racial minorities. These laws are still protecting the equal treatment, since the whole "diversity and inclusion" thing is explicitly about giving unequal (more favorable) treatment to people who aren't…

> the whole "diversity and inclusion" thing is explicitly about giving unequal (more favorable) treatment to people who aren't white/male/cis It's too bad you see it that way when in a lot of cases it's explicitly about giving equal consideration to everyone rather than giving anyone more favorable treatment. Not every case, obviously, but that shouldn't invalidate attempting to level the playing field.

Where is this the case? I haven't witnessed it at any of my previous jobs, especially when I worked at a tech giant (Lyft).

One of the higher ups in "DEI" at my local office said to me in an elevator, while it was just the two of us, "white guys are just the worst, aren't they?"

Given the bizarre state of American racial politics, it was actually unclear if she was flexing on me, or if she genuinely expected me, a white male, to laugh and nod in agreement sincerely.

Maybe I was simply being tested for ideological and cultural fealty. Pretty sure I failed.

Re: 'Old white guy' can move forward with workplace bias suit against AT&T

#24

Post by [deleted] »

cmeacham98 wrote: post #21
derevaunseraun wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Oof. Seems like an open and shut case if that last quote (or others of its ilk) can be proven to have been said. If he was in a one party consent state for audio recording, he should've recorded it.

In hindsight this is obviously true, but I doubt many people record every conversation they have with their boss (I guess maybe they should just in case?)

[deleted]

Re: 'Old white guy' can move forward with workplace bias suit against AT&T

#25

Post by slg »

yieldcrv wrote: post #3

> Employees who have historically been entrenched in the majority are also entitled to protection under laws that were intended to assure equal treatment for women and racial minorities. To me this is obvious. A plain reading of EOCC employment discrimination regulations make this obvious. The mere fact that this is deemed as "novel" or newsworthy or intriguing is a poor reflection of society itself. Fortunately the…

>> Employees who have historically been entrenched in the majority are also entitled to protection under laws that were intended to assure equal treatment for women and racial minorities.

>To me this is obvious. A plain reading of EOCC employment discrimination regulations make this obvious.

I don't necessarily disagree, but I think this is less obvious when looking at how they define age discrimination. Specifically the protected class is people over 40. Why is that distinction made instead of a blanket "no one can be discriminated against based on their age"? Doesn't that imply it is trying to protect a specific group rather than force equal treatment? Why can't a young person sue for age discrimination? How is that logically different from a white person suing for racial discrimination?

Re: 'Old white guy' can move forward with workplace bias suit against AT&T

#26

Post by jcadam »

cmeacham98 wrote: post #21
derevaunseraun wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Oof. Seems like an open and shut case if that last quote (or others of its ilk) can be proven to have been said. If he was in a one party consent state for audio recording, he should've recorded it.

In hindsight this is obviously true, but I doubt many people record every conversation they have with their boss (I guess maybe they should just in case?)

Remote work will make this easier. Imagine getting something like that over Slack. Boom, screen-shot.

Re: 'Old white guy' can move forward with workplace bias suit against AT&T

#27

Post by RappingBoomer »

yieldcrv wrote: post #3

> Employees who have historically been entrenched in the majority are also entitled to protection under laws that were intended to assure equal treatment for women and racial minorities. To me this is obvious. A plain reading of EOCC employment discrimination regulations make this obvious. The mere fact that this is deemed as "novel" or newsworthy or intriguing is a poor reflection of society itself. Fortunately the…

law school grad here--generic white males are not afforded the same protections as protected classes

Re: 'Old white guy' can move forward with workplace bias suit against AT&T

#28

Post by favorited »

collegeburner wrote: post #4

About damn time. The fact that people can talk casually about "old white men" or whatever shows that they are being racist, sexist and agephobic. Maybe there isn't the same historical power imbalance but factoring that kind of thing into hiring or firing decisions is still a deontological wrong. I hope he wins and I hope that everybody who has been discriminated out of a job because they are white/black/man/woman/nb/…

> young/whatever else sues and wins

Note that youth is not a federally protected class in the US – the ADEA protects people who are 40 years and older. Some states have laws protecting young people from age discrimination, but it is not universal.

Re: 'Old white guy' can move forward with workplace bias suit against AT&T

#30

Post by amitkgupta84 »

Discriminating based on race/sex is racist/sexist. It’s sad today that many people (racists and sexists) staunchly believe the opposite of the above when discrimination is going against the race or sex who “deserve” it, going so far as to call this kind of racism “anti-racism”. Worse, though, is that many others lack the moral clarity or courage to admit that they understand that discriminating based on race/sex is racist/sexist, and thereby allow this kind of racism/sexism to perpetuate.
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