The Employer Handbook Blog
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.
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)
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.
* * *
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.
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.
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?”
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.
So much labor-and-employment-law news this week, I’ll do what I can to cram it into a single post. Here goes…
From Seth Borden at Labor Relations Today comes this news about the Senate agreeing to — gasp — seat a full five-member National Labor Relations Board. How could this happen? Something about a nuclear option and compromising photos..
Staying with the labor theme, Joel Barras at Employment Law Watch reports here about a recent advice memorandum from the NLRB’s General Counsel in which the GC concludes that employers must bargain with their unions before implementing new social media policies. No shock there.
Normally, I get my Thursday post fodder from the Wiggity Wiggity Wonky Wednesday edition of Cracked Magazine. Hard hitting stuff like “7 Dick Moves Everyone Pulled in Classic Video Games” and “The Worst Imaginary Friends to Be Stuck With.”
But, for today’s post, I read this newspaper called the Washington Post. I dunno. Must’ve sprung up overnight.
One its writers, Ruth Tam, writes here that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) has cleared a bipartisan Senate committee:
Want an explanation of yesterday Supreme Court decision regarding challenges to California’s ban on same-sex marriage and the federal Defense of Marriage Act, check out Amy Howe’s analysis “In Plain English” at SCOTUSblog.com.
And for more on yesterday’s decision and the impact it may have on your business, check out: