April 2nd, 2015
Lately in our efforts to live in a nation in which our lives are treated and valued equally, we have come to rely on certain corporate advocates on our behalf.
For many years allies such as Wells Fargo and Levi Struass have made it clear that they welcomed gay customers and employees. Over time they were willing to help finance our causes and put their corporate name on the line. Then some tech world giants such as HP and Apple joined them, followed by Wall Street.
But no one, not on our side nor that of those who oppose equality, expected the loud, immediate, and very unanimous voice of Corporate America who demanded that Indiana and Arkansas not enact pro-discrimination provisions of their newly passed Religious Freedom Restoration Acts. This wasn’t just the usual somewhat-liberal companies, but CEO’s who had long Republican ties.
And not only did they demand change, they personally met with Republican leaders to be certain that the changes were adequate.
And let’s not fool ourselves. No progressive alliance, nor media demands, nor twitter storm changed these laws. They helped, of course. They created impetus. They undoubtedly put pressure on the Governors.
But only those who had connections and a history of contributions could walk in the door and tell the Republicans in the state legislatures that they were going to change their votes and do it now.
But why did they do it?
Some within Corporate America have very strong personal reasons for supporting the community – family, friends, those they care about. Others live in a world where diversity is respected. And undoubtedly, some were concerned about the impact that a negative image would have on the business in the states.
But I think it comes down to this: discrimination is a huge colossal pain in the ass for large businesses.
Most have gay employees who they value and need and they long ago got over the notion that it’s better moralize than make money. And anything that causes consternation in the workforce is bad for human resources. And unhappy human resources makes everyone tense. Which loses money and causes ulcers.
Frank Gilbreth proved decades ago that the single biggest contributor to productivity is the attitude of the employee. If employers show that they care about their employees, turn-over drops, production goes up and profits rise. So employers know that they have show that they are looking out for their gay employees – not just for their sake but for the other employees who are watching to see how committed they are.
And then there’s logistics.
It’s hard enough planning travel and accommodations for employees without worrying that Sanctimonious Joe’s Bed and Breakfast is going to make your keynote speaker at tomorrow’s conference sleep in her car. Or deciding where to order lunch if the Holy Memories Pizza is going to cancel on you because you have gay employees and they don’t support the homosexual lifestyle.
And what do you do with employee benefits like a gym membership or health discounts or even trivial things like winning the office raffle for a spa trip if you don’t know whether the businesses around you are going to hassle your employees because the gender of their spouse offends someone’s self-righteousness?
It’s one thing to have religious objections. Business people can work around the personal needs of others.
You need to be home by sundown on Fridays? We can do that. You need to be free Sunday mornings? Not a problem. You need a few minutes to face Mecca every day? Sure.
But it’s quite something else to pass a law whose unstated but unmissable intention is to invite discrimination. Because that’s going to cost time, energy, frustration, and money. That’s going to hurt some employees and cause hassle for others. That’s going to involve late night phone calls and interruption of golf games.
And that just won’t do.
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Bose in Phoenix AZ
April 2nd, 2015
At a certain point, it’s got to be just pissing corporate American leaders off that we’re still having nutty arguments like this.
They’ve tried to be patient, hoping that the GOP machine would finally start coming around and speaking at least a little bit rationally while remaining corp-friendly and getting their jobs done.
But, none of that is happening. It’s an open question whether any coherent (much less competent) functionality will emerge from Republicans any time soon.
Hunter
April 3rd, 2015
One thing that you allude to that I think is a key factor: anti-gay is no longer socially acceptable; support for gay rights is lots of good PR. Since most of the major corporations in this country already have gay-supportive personnel policies on the books, that’s basically a freebie.
And one thing that struck me, in your comments about working around the needs of others, and which Amanda Marcotte stated very well: it’s been easy to accommodate religious beliefs because people “stayed in their own lane.” Now, the “Christian” right is trying to hog the road, and people are getting fed up.
Nathaniel
April 3rd, 2015
Lets not forget the trouble a business might face from one rebellious employee who thinks that the company’s non-discrimination policies infringe on her religious expression of disdain for LGBT (or other types of) coworkers and clients/customers. These broadly-worded RFRAs might protect such an employee from the repercussions of her actions, or at the very least tie up the company in lawsuits for a couple of years, all the while attracting bad press. Best if they not deal with it at all, which means tailoring RFRAs to keep such nonsense from happening, even if it benefits the LGBT community in the process.
Hunter
April 4th, 2015
Nathaniel — that scenario is improbable at best. Such employee would be hard pressed to mount a case that inclusive personnel policies infringe on her religious freedom — although I’m sure Liberty Counsel would be happy to represent her. (Hilarity ensues.)
She has to be able to show harm, which she’s not going to be able to do, and the courts have generally held that nondiscrimination laws and policies represent a compelling interest.
She files suit, case dismissed, and she gets a note in her personnel file.
Eric Payne
April 4th, 2015
Corporate America responded to these STATES with threats that would have deprived those states of jobs and money.
If, after 2016, the GOP retains control of the House of Representatives and the Senate and – God forbid – the White House… and they enact legislation modifying the federal RFRA to the language of what states have been trying to do?
Richard Rush
April 4th, 2015
RFRA = Religious Favoritism Reinforcement Act
Soren456
April 4th, 2015
Just as important, these laws interfere with employee recruitment and assignment.
Especially at educational institutions, top-notch employment candidates are likely to avoid places where discrimination is allowed and celebrated—either because they are gay themselves, or because they don’t wish to live in that environment or to raise their kids in it.
And company employees reassigned to such places may refuse to go, for the same reasons.
All this is despite adequate company policy; a poisonous atmosphere is not attractive.
Nathaniel
April 6th, 2015
Apologies, Hunter. I was postulating from the perspective that said employee is reprimanded or fired for harassing coworkers and/or clients/customers, and has thus been harmed “merely” for expressing her religious beliefs at work. Even if the courts ultimately side with the company, the employee could tie them up in court, potentially for years, because the IN and AR RFRAs allow individuals to sue private (i.e. non-government) businesses. Best to avoid the litigation by petitioning for these laws to be blocked.
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