And this then allows for consequences to be enforced not as a result of breaking the rules but as the result of something that would never be tolerated being made into a rule. For example, being more likely to punish people of a certain gender who breaks some arbitrary rule that needs to be broken for work to be done (though not being so much more likely to do so that they could convince a judge). This is why I think the appropriate response in these cases is that everyone should seek permission, regardless of the extent work slows down, and that firing people for doing so should be see as a violation of discrimination at work (because while it is not directly discriminating against protected classes, it enables a rule enforcement system that makes it trivial to discriminate against protected classes).