fungible facts

Met a lovely, young man last night who was in town for a UN event on disabilities. Earnest and articulate, he explained how, unsurprisingly, the UN had a treaty (or protocol, convention - however they call them) on disability rights and, even less surprisingly, the US had not officially signed on.

Okay, so we don't like being pinned down by a protocol, I said, but how's our track record on disability rights compared to other countries?

Not too good, he explained: "When you look at the employee disability cases that go to the courts, more than 90% are decided in favor of the employer."

Well, case closed. Apparently there are tons of people out there with disabilities that are not having their rights upheld.

But, I asked, couldn't you say the opposite? That since the courts are finding that most of the cases brought to them are without merit, clearly employers are by and large following the law? If you said, instead, that the courts were finding 90% of the cases in favor of the workers, then you'd have evidence that employers were disregarding their staff's disability rights.

Blank stare. I felt bad - he really was earnest and nice. So I back-pedaled: maybe it's not a matter of percentages, but total numbers, I suggested? If 90% of 100 cases brought to federal court were thrown out, then no biggie. But if 90% of 100,000 cases were tossed, then - yes - that would be something to be concerned about. He brightened up - and will now hopefully brush up on his facts and maybe even use them more carefully.