I Hate HR

The other day Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote a guest post about race on Penelope Trunk’s blog. The first rule that Carmen proposed is for individuals not to be colorblind in the workplace. I responded that HR professionals can’t be colorblind in their roles. One of the readers had some questions about race and HR so here are my thoughts…

Let’s be honest. At-will means nothing anymore.

The only time that HR professionals can embrace at will employment is when they’re firing someone who doesn’t fall in a protected class. This does not mean that HR fires those individuals for no reason, it just means that they don’t put as much work into a defense.  A white non-disabled man under the age of 40 (for example) has little recourse so HR puts less into documentation and make sure there is substantial evidence for the decision.

When it comes to protected classes a company can’t afford to be color-blind or age-blind, or disability-blind, etc.. We live in fear of protected classes. Every week on the SHRM message boards there is a frantic post from a worried HR professional about firing a pregnant woman or a 60 year old man. If we truly lived in an at-will state we shouldn’t be worried. The fact is we live in a country where people like to sue.

This is not to say that individuals from protected classes WILL file a lawsuit or that certain protected classes are more likely to file a lawsuit. But they CAN. And let’s face it, people don’t like to be accountable for their actions. When you’re fired, don’t get a promotion, etc. you’re likely to be angry. An angry 33 year old white man just has to deal with his anger and hopefully move on (rather than say bring a gun to the job site). An angry 55 year old black woman doesn’t have to move on from the denial stage. They have the option of filing a lawsuit. What’s a better way at getting back at the people you’re angry at for firing you? After all the burden of proof is not on the employee so the employee has even more motivation to file a lawsuit.

People who abuse the system and those to refuse to accept that their firing has to do with their performance rather than whatever their protected class is have put HR in the uncomfortable situation of attempting offense when it comes to discrimination lawsuits. Part of our job is to protect the company and the best way to do so is to be on the lookout for potential lawsuits. There is no HR professional who takes pleasure in having to consider if an individual is in a protected class when they decide how to act on a predetermined termination. Unfortunately, it is that state we live in.