Microsoft workers shared sexual harassment stories on an internal email chain

First we need to stop acting like HR does anything. HR is paid by the same employer as the victim and will take the employer's side over the victim any time. The only thing HR will do is collect information from the victim and pass that on to legal so they can get a head start in debunking the claim in case of litigation. There are federal laws that say you should attempt to resolve the discrimination or harassment issue with HR before a lawsuit or else the company can use the fact that you did not against you in a federal court of law. Any such law should be abolished given it's akin to asking a rape victim to resolve the issue with the rapist's family before going to the cops.

Second, MS, Google, and Facebook are not the only companies where employees face sexual harassment and discrimination. Smaller company's employees face the same shit, probably at a higher rate, but are never mentioned in the the news unless someone is outright groping women or hanging nooses in the common area. Smaller companies are even held less liable when found guilty because the USA, in all of its capitalist BS, is worried that it may put the company out of business - I mean all they did was break the law, why should they face any financial hardship. Maybe I'll go rob a gas station and tell the judge not to lock up my dumb ass because I'll loose my job and face financial hardship. Basically the United states has no problem bankrupting citizens when they break the law, but companies get a free pass.

Third, no one is ever held accountable in these cases anyway. The EEOC claims very few of these cases go to trail and even fewer are actually won. Why? Because companies pay off women/minorities/disabled people to keep their mouths shut after firing them (very R-Kelly style). Maybe we should make a documentary called "Surviving Microsoft". Something should be done to limit the power of these companies. Australia, for all its racist and sexist faults, is leading the way on this with current legislation that says, F-THAT if you big companies can't follow the law then execs will start getting jail time. I would like to see the day when that law is actually enforced but at least it is a start.

Massively overblown. Systematic affirmative action is rampant in Microsoft. White and asian men are discriminated against within the company. It will only hurt Microsoft.