Comma or No Comma?

[Krista Ash]

On my most editor's scorecard, the following 2 sentences were marked as errors, but I don't think they are errors. I've included my reasoning below.

1st paragraph- remove comma-
While the two have escaped the scientists and their torture, other humans are eager to take advantage of Kata and Tau’s super-human abilities[,] and their sub-human legal status.

1st paragraph-missing comma-
The ethics are complicated when individual humans acknowledge that Tau is sentient[,] but the law states that he is an animal.

For the first sentence, I included the comma as a stylistic choice to make "and their sub-human legal status" more of a(n) aside/foreboding emphasis to the reader.

In the second sentence, if I added a comma where it is suggested, it makes the last phrase sound like a separate sentence instead of part of the dependent clause. Additionally, as a reviewer, this sort of error is considered subjective when reading a book (see quote below), so it only seems fair to also consider it subjective when reading a review.

Quote from the "Important Notes" when marking errors in a book:
"Likewise, as another example, the lack of using a comma before a coordinating conjunction connecting two independent clauses is considered subjective by our system and should thus be marked as uncounted if marked at all."

If someone could give me their opinion on these errors and whether or not they should be considered errors, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

[Emrimante]

For me you must always put comma in exact area but it depends in the sentence or phrase. i believe you do it in your own idea and style because all of us had a diff style, by doing our works. You need to research and determination.
Godbless u

[MrsCatInTheHat]

In the second sentence, a comma is needed as the second clause is NOT a dependent clause. The sentence given has two independent clauses.

I would also agree with the editor with the first sentence.

[Krista Ash]

In the second sentence, I understand that the last clause can be independent, but given the context I don’t think it is. I know I didn’t intend for it to be independent. I meant for the dependent clause to be compound(with everything after “when” as part of the dependent clause”), but perhaps I didn’t write it correctly. Do I need to repeat the subordinate conjunction (if that’s what it’s called) like I have below? I feel like the repetition hurts the flow of the sentence.

The ethics are complicated when individual humans acknowledge that Tau is sentient and when the law states that he is an animal.

I hope this makes my sentence and reasoning why the clause is dependent a little clearer.

Either way, even if the clause was independent, it just feels like there’s a double standard where reviewers are held to a more subjective standard than authors are.