Employment Law is an Ass
“If the law supposes that,” said Mr. Bumble,… “the law is a ass—a idiot. If that’s the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is that his eye may be opened by experience—by experience.” Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist.
Title VII, the federal employment law, is only 42 years old and it is still a bachelor and sometimes it acts like an ass. Maybe with experience it will mature.
At our employment law firm in New York, The Ottinger Firm, we see many people who have been mistreated. But the law's protection in the workplace is narrow and arbitrary. Generally, only discrimination, retaliation, and certain wage practices are illegal.
Most of the time, when someone comes to see us about a problem at work, all we can do is advise them to get a new job. The best remedy is to find a great employer that treats people well. Those jobs are hard to find. For now, it is perfectly legal to abuse people at work and ruin someone's career for no good reason.
