Sexual Orientation

How swift response to racial slurs and graffiti defused a discrimination claim

September 12, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

You have an employee handbook, an anti-harassment policy, training, the whole nine.

But, sometimes, notwithstanding your best efforts to create a positive, respectful workplace, you receive a complaint from an employee who claims to be the victim of harassment based on [insert protected class].

All the prophylactic measures you’ve already installed mean nothing unless you respond to that complaint appropriately.

See how one company did it right, after the jump…

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Court: Title VII prohibits retaliation based on good-faith complaint of sexual-orientation harassment

August 25, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on a number of protected classes. Sexual orientation isn’t one of those protected classes specifically listed in the statute.

So, if an employee complains about sexual-orientation harassment and is later fired because she complained, then that won’t create a claim under Title VII. Or does it?

Find out after the jump…

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Today, President Obama will sign an Executive Order banning LGBT discrimination

July 21, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Thumbnail image for rainbowflag.jpg According to a Friday report from Cynthia L. Hackerott at Wolters Kluwer, President Obama will sign an Executive Order today banning discrimination against LGBT employees by federal contractors.

Last month, I blogged here that the White House had announced that it intended to eventually ban LGBT discrimination by federal contractors through Executive Order because the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), did not make it through Congress.

Since that time, several gay-rights groups withdrew their support for ENDA, fearing that it afforded “religiously affiliated organizations … a blank check to engage in workplace discrimination against LGBT people.”

President Obama to ban LGBT discrimination by federal contractors — eventually

June 17, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Share the news: President Obama will prohibit federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 16, 2014

The White House announced the news yesterday via Twitter.

Mohawks in the workplace aren’t gay. Stupid, but not gay.

February 26, 2014 | by Eric B. Meyer

Three years at this blog without discussing mohawk hairstyles in the workplace. Now, two posts in one week. Which reminds me of the time I dressed up as BA Baracus for Halloween in law school

Ah, yes. That mohawk….and BA’s fear of flying. Ties right into today’s post.

(I love it when a plan comes together)

PA Gov. Corbett announces support for ban on LGBT workplace discrimination

December 19, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Over the Summer, I reported here that about companion Pennsylvania bills introduced in the House and Senate that would outlaw both sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in the workplace.

Each bill had bipartisan support, but it was unclear how Governor Corbett (R) would act if a bill was placed on his desk for his signature.

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ENDA — a bill banning LGBT workplace discrimination — passes the Senate

November 8, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Thumbnail image for rainbowflag.jpg And it wasn’t close at all.

By a final vote of 64-32, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, also known as ENDA, passed the Senate on Thursday.

All 52 Democrats, plus 2 Independents and 10 Republicans voted in favor of the bill. Among the notable yes votes was Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey (R). Indeed, minutes before voting yes on ENDA, Senator Toomey saw his proposed amendment to the bill, which would have created exceptions for certain religious groups, defeated.

Senate on the brink of approving bill to improve LGBT workplace rights

November 5, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Thumbnail image for CapitolHill.jpg

Earlier this week, I blogged about Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) promising that the Senate would take up the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

Yesterday, the Senate obtained enough support to put ENDA to a full vote. Every Senate Democrat agreed to press forward. And even some Republicans helped get the bill to cloture, most notably conservatives Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who announced on Monday that he would back ENDA. With 60 members of the Senate supporting ENDA, the matter is ripe for a vote.

However, while it appear likely at ENDA will make it through the Senate, passage in the House is another story. Concerned with the impact ENDA may have on American businesses, House Majority Leader John Boehner reconfirmed yesterday that he would oppose the bill.

Let’s play: What did Senator Harry Reid say to affect your workplace?

October 30, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Earlier this week, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) offered some pointed remarks from the Senate floor. He blasted “radical Tea Party Republicans,” lambasted “mainstream Republican colleagues, who remained silent even as the anarchists among us committed political malpractice,” and then proclaimed, “This work period, the Senate will consider the…”

a. “…Twerk for Work Act, which would provide incentives to employers who hire unemployed Miley Cyrus wannabes who shake what their mamas gave them.”

b. “…Fox; specifically, a bipartisan effort to learn what does the Fox say?”

New PA bill would ban sexual orientation, gender identity discrimination

August 20, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have laws banning workplace discrimination in the private sector on the basis of sexual orientation. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which currently bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in public employment, may soon become the latest state to ban it in the private sector as well.

(The term “gender identity or expression” means actual or perceived gender identity, appearance, behavior, expression or physical characteristics whether or not associated with an individual’s assigned sex at birth).

A bill to amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to add these workplace protections was introduced last week in the PA Senate with some bipartisan (but most Democratic) support. The same bill was introduced in the PA House the week before. Each measure would also carry the same restrictions in housing, credit and public accommodations.