Promoting a Harassment-Free Workplace

According to CBS News[1] , a recent CareerBuilder study revealed that “about four out of 10 LGBTQ workers report feeling bullied at work...The majority of those who said they were bullied said it was by one person, while about 13 percent said it happened in a group setting.” 

Since sexual harassment in the workplace has always been associated with unwelcome male/female conduct, workplace rights in the LGBTQ community have been a grey area. But as the community continues to gain the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts, people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender are now protected from unwelcome sexual advances in their place of work. According to California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act or FEHA, “people who are of a specific sexual orientation are protected under the law, thus making LGBTQ harassment illegal not only in the workplace, but also anywhere else in the state.” This means that any person of a different sexual orientation who is discriminated against based on their sexuality or sexual assaulted at work has the right to press charges according to new employment laws.

To ensure that harassment is taken seriously in your workplace, here are examples of incidents that are considered harassment and thus qualify for protection under these new laws:

1.     Retaliation for asserting legal rights in the workplace

2.     Hiring, firing, demoting or laying off a worker because of his/her sexual orientation

3.     Failure to pay LGBTQ workers because of their sexual orientation

4.     Eliminating benefits based on sex

5.     Harassing workers on being too masculine or feminine

6.     Using intimidation tactics that create a hostile work environment

While there isn’t one magical remedy to LGBTQ discrimination, specific initiatives can be implemented in the workplace that make a difference.

Trainings: Discrimination can occur unintentionally. Providing trainings for employees to help them gain understanding and empathy can be a great resource for your business. Activities that examine stereotypes, for example, can create awareness of the misconceptions about the LGBTQ community. Teaching employees about hurtful language, how to intervene if discrimination happens and how to provide support to the community.

Supporting Organization: Another great way to encourage tolerance and acceptance is by supporting LGBTQ support groups and/or LGBTQ employee resource groups.  This will communicate to your corporation that diversity is a priority and discrimination isn't an organizational value. It will also allow employees to find community, support and reassurance within their workplace.

Update Policies: Take the time to update harassment training and policies in your employee handbooks or resources, to include gender identity and enforce harassment policies for all employees regardless of sexual orientation.

Working on an inclusive work environment? Need to create diversity training programs? Contact VertiSource HR® today and our team of experts can help! Call 855.565.VSHR (8747) or email us at info@vertisourcehr.com.

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LINK TO SOURCE

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bullying-lgbt-employees-workplace-epidemic/

Landmark EEOC Ruling Furthers LGBT Rights in the U.S.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is now enforcing a groundbreaking development under the Title VII Civil Rights Act: they are prohibiting sex discrimination and forbidding any employment discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

Over the past few years, through litigation, investigation, hearings and appeals, the EEOC has taken the position that existing sex discrimination provisions in Title VII protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) applicants and employees against employment discrimination. These federal protections apply regardless of any contrary state and local laws.

The EEOC isn’t adding a protected class (i.e. race, religion, national origin, disability, etc.) under this decision but rather interpreting and recognizing sexual orientation and gender identity to fall under unlawful sex discrimination; the protected class itself is “sex.”

The following are examples of LGBT-related sex discrimination claims (from the EEOC’s publication, “What You Should Know About EEOC and the Enforcement Protections of LGBT Workers”):

• Failing to hire an applicant because she is a transgender woman.
• Firing an employee because he is planning or has made a gender transition.
• Denying an employee equal access to a common restroom corresponding to the employee's gender identity.
• Harassing an employee because of a gender transition, such as by intentionally and persistently failing to use the name and gender pronoun that correspond to the gender identity with which the employee identifies, and which the employee has communicated to management and employees.
• Denying an employee a promotion because he is gay or straight.
• Discriminating in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, such as providing a lower salary to an employee because of sexual orientation, or denying spousal health insurance benefits to a female employee because her legal spouse is a woman, while providing spousal health insurance to a male employee whose legal spouse is a woman.
• Harassing an employee because of his or her sexual orientation, for example, by derogatory terms, sexually oriented comments, or disparaging remarks for associating with a person of the same or opposite sex.
• Discriminating against or harassing an employee because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity, in combination with another unlawful reason, for example, on the basis of transgender status and race, or sexual orientation and disability.

The EEOC has created the following resource to assist employers in preventing discrimination in the workplace via “Preventing Employment Discrimination Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender Employees.”

VertiSource HR is committed to creating a workplaces that are free from harassment and discrimination. For more information, contact blog@vertisourcehr.com.

By: LeiLani Quiray, SPHR

HR Director of VertiSource HR