New Salt Lake City Ordinances Prohibit Housing and Employment Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation
Yesterday the Salt Lake City Council unanimously passed ordinances prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Click here to download a copy of the City Council's Staff Report on the ordinances, along with full text of the new laws. Highlights of the employment discrimination ordinance include:
- Forbids employment discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation or gender identity in Salt Lake City.
- "Sexual orientation" is defined as "a person’s actual or perceived
orientation as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual." - "Gender identity" is defined as "a person’s actual or perceived gender identity, appearance, mannerisms, or other characteristics of an individual with or without regard to the person’s sex at birth."
- "Sexual orientation" is defined as "a person’s actual or perceived
- Creates a complaint and investigation process. The complaint could be resolved through mediation or a fine of up to $1,000.
- Does not create a "private right of action" to sue over alleged discrimination.
- Exempts religious organizations, the State of Utah, and businesses with fewer than 15 employees.
- "Does not create any special rights or privileges," because "every person has a sexual orientation and a gender identity."
- Requires annual reports by the city's Human Rights Commission on the effectiveness of the ordinances.
- Takes effect on April 2, 2010.
In case you were wondering, the ordinances passed with the full support of the LDS Church. "The church supports these ordinances," LDS spokesman Michael Otterson told the City Council, "because they are fair and reasonable and do not do violence to the institution of marriage." For more coverage of the SLC ordinances, read this article from the Salt Lake Tribune, or this article from the Deseret News.
SLC employers should review the new laws and review existing policies and procedures to ensure compliance. Many states, counties and cities across the country have adopted similar ordinances. To check the state of the law in your location, check out this handy list of state and local sexual orientation and gender identity laws from the Human Rights Campaign.
Employment Non-Discrimination Act: Is This the Year?
Just in time for Pride Month, Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009 (ENDA) earlier this week. If passed, ENDA would prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. It would also prohibit employers retaliation against employees who oppose such discrimination who participate in any investigation or proceeding under ENDA. To read more about ENDA, check out this article from the Human Rights Campaign.
ENDA would be the first federal law prohibiting sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of, among other things, sex; it does not explicitly prohibit sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination). Several states already have similar protections in place, but ENDA would apply nationwide. ENDA would exempt from its coverage small businesses (those with less than 15 employees), religious organizations, and the armed forces.
This isn't ENDA's first trip through Congress; versions of the bill have been introduced in almost every Congress since 1994. However, with a strong Democratic majority in both houses of Congress, a Democratic President who is feeling the heat from the GLBTQ community, and the gay rights movement riding a wave of successes in state legislatures, 2009 may well be the year ENDA becomes law.
Employers whose policies and handbooks don't already address discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity should consider a revision. For an example of how one company has addressed such discrimination, click here to read IBM's anti-discrimination policy. Click here for a state-by-state analysis of existing sexual orientation discrimination laws;
