Employee Survival Guide® - Feedback Responses to Cancel Culture is Illegal At Work

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, it's Mark here, and welcome to the next edition of the Employee Survival Guide. This week, we're going to talk about the feedback I received from the previous article, Cancel Culture is Illegal at Work. When I decided to write the first article, Cancel Culture is Illegal at Work, I normally anticipated immediate judgment and backlash. In essence, I knew I was going to be canceled. That was the point. I was inviting debate about the entitlement mentality to cancel

Starting point is 00:00:26 others at will. What I knew to be true was the lack of legal substance to the argument in favor of cancel culture being used and defended at work. How could there be? In order for any legitimate social, political argument to arise of future public policy and statutory initiation, there would need to be a foundation based on prior legal precedent. Without legal precedent, cancel culture supporters are just acting arbitrarily, based on social passions. Passions and emotions are high, certainly. It is not my intention to criticize cancel culture, but to show the negative consequences of the unfettered and arbitrary bias and the impact legally. Yes, it is still illegal to cancel at work, and I invite any argument to support why it is not. I am listening, but are you listening to

Starting point is 00:01:11 my question here? To ignore means to cancel me. To accept opposing viewpoints is only wise, as it will convince opponents there may be a sliver of justification for cancel culture. All of our American legal developments that address social concerns always follow the same process, seeking a foothold in the rule of law. In response to my first article, I received several angry email responses informing me I was wrong about what is cancel culture and accused me of perpetuating whiteness. But none of the objections to the article provided a legal basis to support the continued use and protection of cancel culture at work. This is my point. Proponents of cancel culture are not even understanding the legal issues or just ignore them entirely in order to perpetuate their narrative. Social movements must

Starting point is 00:01:55 have a footing in the rule of law. Otherwise, they do not and will not survive. Advocates of cancel culture never cite any legal basis to support its existence, but for the fact that it just is, and we should all heed to it. The future of cancel culture at work will definitely result in lawsuits against individuals based on reverse discrimination. Now, currently, only a select number of federal statutes provide individual liability, particularly 42 U.S.C. 1981. Section 1981, as it commonly is referred to, is a post-Civil War reconstruction statute to protect and enfranchise early African Americans to own land of their own and to contract

Starting point is 00:02:32 for business purposes, both of which did not previously exist. Today, employment lawyers, including myself, use Section 1981 to combat race discrimination in the workplace of any kind, whether brown, black, white, Hispanic, Latinx, or Asian. Congress and the courts have never specified which race was protected by the statute. Actually, the word race was never mentioned in the statutory wording. Although, it did set the standard to measure against it. Quote, as is enjoyed by white citizens. End quote. 42 U.S.C. 6191 states specifically, Part A, all persons within

Starting point is 00:03:06 jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right in every state and territory to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, exactions of every kind, and to no other. That's a lot. Part B says, for the purpose of this section, the term make and enforce contracts includes the making, performance, modification, and termination of contracts, and the enjoyment of all benefits, privileges, terms, and conditions of contractual relationship.

Starting point is 00:03:46 Well, that's a huge statement too. Part C, the rights protected by this section are protected against impairment by non-governmental discrimination and impairment under color of state law. Which just means the government's acting. Individual liability for employees who pursue cancel culture at work. Most people who pursue cancel culture at work do not realize they can be sued individually for race discrimination under Section 1981. This is commonly referred to as a reverse race discrimination case, but that phrase too is also not mentioned in the statutory language. To be clear, reverse race discrimination can apply to any race. Courts are responsible for this development and the use of Section 1981 to protect all races against invidious race discrimination.

Starting point is 00:04:28 Cancel culture is invidious race discrimination. There is no legal argument to be used to say that it is not. In fact, the point of this article is to demonstrate the utter lack of foundational legal support behind cancel culture at work. After all, we derive our individual rights, liberties, and protections from the rule of law. In order for cancel culture to rise to its assumed zenith, it must first ground itself in the rule of law. What do I mean by this? Let's assume a cancel culture event occurred at work. An employee perpetuating the canceling seeks to vindicate his legal right, not social right, to cancel another employee. The employee must assert legal standing to do so. Standing is a legal term that defines a right

Starting point is 00:05:11 or opportunity to contest a legal interest. Where is the standing to cancel another employee at work? I've yet to hear any cogent argument to support cancel culture standing in the legal, not social, context. There are none. Cancel culture at work is illegal. I predict the cancel culture will not survive because it's legally flawed. If you would like more information about this or share your response to this article, let us know. Contact Karen Associates PC. Thank you and have a great week.

Employee Survival Guide® - Feedback Responses to Cancel Culture is Illegal At Work

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