Many states have legislated beyond the Federal Equal Opportunity Laws. For example, state laws extend to sexual orientation, use of lawful products, marital status, and expansive definitions of covered disabilities.
If you have employees in more than one state, how can you deal with these distinctions? Should you treat all their employees according to the highest common denominator? For example, if sexual orientation is protected in California, but not in Texas, should the handbook you provide your Texas employees reflect this distinction? We’d recommend these guidelines:
- Be careful of the commitments you make. As the saying goes, “no good deed is left unpunished.” For example, if your company offers protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation where the law does not require you to do so, failure to live up this obligation could create an additional legal exposure.
- Consider treating your employees better than the law requires. Does your internal branding or corporate culture promote “something extra?” Remember, the law is only a bottom-line requirement. Many of today’s laws grew out of policies that proactive employers adopted long before legislation required them to do so.
- Remember that you can legislate or mandate tolerance, but not acceptance. The basic requirement of EEO law is to do no harm to another because they’re different from you. The law has a difficult time when it tries to move beyond tolerance and require acceptance of our differences. Although acceptance might be a lofty corporate or social goal, it’s difficult to enforce by policy or legislation — but can only come through awareness, which requires particular training.
- Finally, whatever the protection, the message has to come from the top. Leadership must either mold a corporate culture or it becomes shapeless. If you want to enforce tolerance and encourage acceptance, the message has to come from top management. Delegating this responsibility is both irresponsible and ineffective. At best, you can delegate its implementation.