Making the Same Mistakes

One of the interesting things about reading through the press releases of federal agencies is that you see trends in a different way than how they are reported in the press. I was catching up on a backlog in my Google Reader this morning, and was struck by one feed in particular: the sheer number of businesses the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ends up suing after they violate employment law, whether because they fired someone because they became pregnant, because they retaliated against a deaf employee, because they refused to provide someone the training they needed in order to get a promotion. Now, illegal discrimination tends to happen for two reasons: either someone is ignorant of the law, or they know what it is, but they believe they can get away with subverting it. It's hard to combat the latter case, since venality is part of the human condition. But I'd be interested in what sorts of education programs might be able to combat ignorance about discrimination law, and to help people walk back from discriminatory behavior and make voluntary redress in appropriate ways. There are a lot of businesses in the United States, but surely it would save everyone time, money, and energy, if discrimination could be avoided, rather than punished.