Government, Courts, and the World of Work

A major study has reported that most diversity training efforts at American companies are ineffective and even counterproductive because it focuses too much time on compliance and not enough time on organizational culture and change.  

Several experts offered two reasons for this: The first is that businesses are responding rationally to the legal environment, since several Supreme Court rulings have held that companies with mandatory diversity training are in a stronger position if they face a discrimination lawsuit. Second, many companies, with the implicit cooperation of diversity trainers, find it easier to offer exercises that serve public relations goals, rather than to embrace real change.

I have trained thousands of supervisors at hundreds of companies since 1995 and I generally concur with the study’s findings.

For the most part, companies see diversity as a legal compliance issue, not as a meaningful opportunity to create a more productive working environment. Our research indicates that employers get sued regardless of training because of this.

In response, we have developed training that gets at the root causes of conflict and treats diversity as a corporate value, rather than as a legal necessity.  This type of value-based training is really not for everyone. By and large, it’s for employers that already get it.  Short of that, there is something to be said for preserving a defense to a discrimination suit.

Legislation has been passed to crackdown on employers who discriminate against employees for practicing their personal religious beliefs.

The legislation (A-3451) would expand the protections provided under the Law Against Discrimination to include protecting employees from losing promotions, retaining employment, or making a transfer based on the fact that the employee has specific religious obligations. The bill would require that an employer make an accommodation to the employee, unless the employee’s actions will cause undue hardship for the employer. 

Employees taking time off for religious purposes would be allowed to make up time with the employer at a mutually convenient time or the employee would have an option to take a leave with pay.

Governor Corzine has not indicated whether he will sign the bill. Or he may conditionally veto it.  In either case, the bill goes beyond Title VII protection and will apply to every NJ employer regardless of size.