Employment Non-Discrimination Act
Quick Link- Take Action: Send An Email to Your Congressional Representatives
The Problem: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender People Can Be Fired On The Job For Simply Being Who They AreYou’re not reading that wrong. In 30 states, it is perfectly legal to fire someone because of their sexual orientation. But it gets worse! In 37 states, it is perfectly legal to fire someone because of their gender identity / expression.
What does that mean in practical terms? It means that if you were a lesbian, and living in North Carolina, you could have worked at your job for 15 years, but when your homophobic boss sees your car leaving a local gay club, he figures out you’re a lesbian and fires you the next day you’re in the office. Because you’re not in a union, and no state or federal law bars this type of discrimination, you have no recourse or remedy to help you get your job back.
The Solution: Pass The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would extend fair employment practices under federal law to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. It does not create any “special rights,” but simply affords to all Americans basic protection from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It is based on the labor principle that every worker should be judged solely on his or her merits as a worker. ENDA applies the same procedures and similar, but more limited, remedies as other federal civil rights laws, like Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
What ENDA Does Not DoENDA will not apply to small businesses, religious organizations, or the military. In addition, ENDA will not collect statistics on the amounts of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers hired by different companies, nor will it establish any kind of quota system. ENDA does not mandate that employers provide domestic partner benefits to their employees; our unions will need to continue to push forward that battle for inclusion.
Talking Points For Labor Audiences ENDA creates in federal law, the labor practice of honoring a person’s work for their work, not for who they are.
According to a recent 2007 Gallup study, 89% of Americans believe LGBT people should have equal job opportunities.
A broad coalition of labor unions, corporations, and community organizations have come out in favor of the passage of ENDA, including the AFL-CIO, Leadership Conference On Civil Rights, and SEIU. In addition, over 470 of Fortune 500 companies have passed employment policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
While corporate employment policies are great standards to live by, the only options workers have to stop discrimination on the job that have teeth are a union contract and federal and state non-discrimination laws. In one fell swoop, ENDA, would protect millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers who do not have the benefits and protections of a union contract.
