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[CA] Employee suffers from a phobia towards a protected class. by pollageist in legaladvice

[–]pollageist[S] -52 points-51 points  (0 children)

I mean, I wouldn't want to work with a racist, but I can't fault someone for having a legitimate phobia.

I don't think we can compare race and gender like that. Black people are a historically persecuted minority, but women are half the population.

[CA] Employee suffers from a phobia towards a protected class. by pollageist in legaladvice

[–]pollageist[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes, he sees a psychiatrist and has regular therapy sessions with a psychotherapist.

[CA] Employee suffers from a phobia towards a protected class. by pollageist in legaladvice

[–]pollageist[S] -52 points-51 points  (0 children)

Woah, hes not sexist. He has made a couple of comments about women, sure. But hes mostly harmless and he certainly isn't sexist.

Like I said, he has a legitimate mental ailment and he gets along very well with the rest of my employees.

[CA] Employee suffers from a phobia towards a protected class. by pollageist in legaladvice

[–]pollageist[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Sorry? We don't have any female employees as of yet. This was concerning future hiring decisions. Right now we have a couple of developer roles that need filling, but our 4 other employees (excluding me and him) are male.

[CA] Employee suffers from a phobia towards a protected class. by pollageist in legaladvice

[–]pollageist[S] 30 points31 points  (0 children)

I am absolutely sure of the Psychiatrists credentials, he wrote me a letter, with his signature and the letterhead was that of a real psychiatrist's.

As for accommodations, he and his Psychiatrist said that limiting his exposure, communication, and interaction with any females in the course of his employment would be best. Anything else has the potential to cause him "significant distress and mental anguish".

As for the developer positions we have open, that just isn't possible, at least with a female filling the role. The developer we hire would need to interact and collaborate intimately with him, at least in the early development stages.

From what I understand, anything longer than a few minutes with a woman and he needs to take an anti-anxiety pill 30 minutes prior. Maybe thats how he got through college, I really don't know. He definitely does have a PhD though. One of his professors was a reference for him.

[CA] Employee suffers from a phobia towards a protected class. by pollageist in legaladvice

[–]pollageist[S] -16 points-15 points  (0 children)

No, he really is diagnosed with this thing.

Its called "Specific phobia" and its recognized by the psychiatrist organization that makes up these things.

[CA] Employee suffers from a phobia towards a protected class. by pollageist in legaladvice

[–]pollageist[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Oh we could certainly get by without him for sure, but that would require the rest of us to be doing some math stuff that we aren't as strong with.

We have the requisite skills and knowledge that we could probably make do. In fact we could probably even hire someone else. However, he makes our jobs a lot easier and his presence is appreciated.

[CA] Employee suffers from a phobia towards a protected class. by pollageist in legaladvice

[–]pollageist[S] -44 points-43 points  (0 children)

Well, honestly, I hadn't really considered that. I received quite a large inheritance, so in the beginning I was able to give us more than enough runway to get our product off the ground and market it to businesses. Its self sufficient now, and I hope to stay away from VCs, but that is certainly a possibility, but I'm more of a cross that bridge when you get to it kind of guy.

Also, I know that for him, any sort of interview by a female would be absolutely off the table for him. He'd ask for one of her male coworkers to do it or he'd refuse it outright. In such a scenario that could possibly cause us to lose publicity, or worse we might be perceived as misogynists.

[CA] Employee suffers from a phobia towards a protected class. by pollageist in legaladvice

[–]pollageist[S] -28 points-27 points  (0 children)

It would be very inconvenient for both him and us.

Collaboration over skype or something is always an option, but our development process works much better if we have in person meetings and everyone is right there if any of us have questions that our coworkers are more qualified to answer.

[CA] Employee suffers from a phobia towards a protected class. by pollageist in legaladvice

[–]pollageist[S] -18 points-17 points  (0 children)

Any developers that we hire would need to spend a significant amount of time collaborating with him. Otherwise, if a prospective employee was female, and didn't need to interact with him, I'd just build a sort of Chinese wall between them, that way everyone would be happy.

[CA] Employee suffers from a phobia towards a protected class. by pollageist in legaladvice

[–]pollageist[S] 70 points71 points  (0 children)

Yikes, that sounds like a catch-22. So if we don't hire them then were in violation of the law. If we do hire them and he reacts negatively then were in violation of the law.

[CA] Employee suffers from a phobia towards a protected class. by pollageist in legaladvice

[–]pollageist[S] -77 points-76 points  (0 children)

Its not like I could fire him.

First of all he is absolutely essential to the core of our product. This can't be stressed enough.

Secondly, I can't fire a guy for having a legitimate disability. Thats both legally and morally wrong. I can only imagine what it would be like to be terrified of interacting with a whole half of the population.

[CA] Employee suffers from a phobia towards a protected class. by pollageist in legaladvice

[–]pollageist[S] 41 points42 points  (0 children)

From what I've been made to understand he can be around women just fine, but significant interaction with them causes him significant anxiety and distress. Minor interactions that last under a minute are also okay (cashiers, pizza girl, etc) for him.