Insensitive

While we're on the subject of employment discrimination developments guaranteed to raise your blood pressure, I think Paul Secunda is right to describe this as "one of the most insensitive employer acts in quite a while." (to say the least!)

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says a Grasonville marina and bar located on the Chesapeake Bay violated federal law when it refused to offer an accommodation to an employee who had undergone breast cancer treatment and fired her when she requested to be excused from its dress code policy.

According to the EEOC's suit, Mears Marina Associated Limited Partnership, doing business as the Red Eye's Dock Bar, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it discriminated against Margaret Finley, who had undergone treatment for breast cancer.

Finley had requested to be excused from the bar's dress code policy which required that she wear a scanty "tankini" top. Her request to be excused from the "tankini" requirement resulted in her termination, the EEOC charges.

Wow. And, to keep quoting Secunda, "it just goes to show how many employment discrimination cases could be avoided with a little less employer intransigence and little more compromise." Which, in a nutshell, is how I see employment discrimination. So often, it's merely a case of employers being not just obnoxiously stubborn, but unnecessarily so. Not only does this create the distinct feeling that they're acting out of pure malice, but it doesn't actually benefit anyone. It's just ridiculous.