If you’ve been listening to the news the last few days you probably think we’re all a bunch of raving mad intolerant lunatics who hate each other and are hell bent on shooting each other through the eyes, literally and metaphorically. And a report just released by the federal government regarding discrimination at work only seems to back up this perception.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported yesterday that discrimination claims in the United States hit record levels in fiscal year 2010, nearing 100,000 charges filed by employees, and the big gains came in religious and race bias, ageism and among disabled workers.

“Discrimination continues to be a substantial problem for too many job seekers and workers, and we must continue to build our capacity to enforce the laws that ensure that workplaces are free of unlawful bias,” said EEOC Chair Jacqueline Berrien.

Indeed, the numbers are disturbing but are we a more bigoted society today, and thus a more bigoted workplace? The answer may be surprising. (more…)

You might not be interested in reading any obits today on a really old senator who probably should have retired from Congress long ago.

But in this era of Twitter, Facebook and extreme self promotion, all of us, including every so-called social media and personal branding guru out there, might want to spend some time today reading about how Robert Byrd, the longest-serving member of Congress who died today at age 92, went from Ku Klux Klan member to liberal hero.

Byrd also voted against the Civil Rights Act, but he went on to become a champion of the rights of all Americans.

So many of you have asked me how to explain being fired from a job, or getting a hiring manager to see beyond a past public transgression, or criminal record. And parents are often wondering if something their kids say on Facebook will come back to haunt them when they go out in the real world.

All these things can make your career life harder, no question about it.

A newly released survey by OfficeTeam found that one in five job candidates gets dropped after references are checked.

But how did someone like Byrd overcome such a checkered past? Was he a shrewd image revamper or did he just not let his past keep him down? (more…)

I hate when the civilization clock runs backwards.

On Feb. 5, Virginia’s new governor Robert McDonnell (R) signed an executive order covering discrimination and state workers, just like his two Democratic predecessors. But unlike the former govenors, he decided to take one group out of the list of groups protected from workplace bias — sexual orientation.

So, before Feb. 5, gay and lesbian state workers in Virginia could not be fired or suffer an adverse job action because of their sexual orientation, but now they’re pretty much defenseless. (more…)

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

My son was mad when he found out he had piano lessons on Martin Luther King day.

“We’re supposed to not do anything,” he said with a tinge of disgust in his voice when I broke the news that he was going to have to endure a half hour of piano lessons today.

It made me wonder where he got the notion that Martin Luther King day was a day when you weren’t supposed to do anything.

Clearly, the schools thought so, according to him. No school = Do nothing. Well, other than Wii.

I told he and his sister to Google civil rights so they could figure out what the day was really all about. (more…)