While many states and employers are enforcing LGBT-inclusive policies, progress is “at best sporadic and uneven” – and therefore a national anti-discrimination workplace law specifically addressing sexual orientation and gender identity must be enacted, according the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ report, “Working for Inclusion: Time for Congress to Enact Federal Legislation to Address Workplace Discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Americans.”
“As these policies are enacted separately and independently, the lack of national legal protections leaves many to hide who they are for fear of discrimination -- including termination -- in the workplace,” the authors write.
The commission reviewed testimony, as well as social science research and surveys, and found that LGBT workers are still insufficiently protected from workplace discrimination, due in part to an “inconsistent and irreconcilable” patchwork of state laws against anti-LGBT workplace discrimination and federal court decisions interpreting existing law.
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Katie Kuehner-Hebert
Katie Kuehner-Hebert is a freelance writer based in Running Springs, Calif. She has more than three decades of journalism experience, with particular expertise in employee benefits and other human resource topics.
