Posted on 07/26/2013 3:35:35 PM PDT by mdittmar
In 2013, it's difficult to believe that in most of the country, it's legal to fire workers for their sexual orientation or gender identity. It doesn't matter how good you are at your job, if your employer doesn't approve of who you are, he or she can fire you and you have no legal recourse. The country has long had laws that protect workers from being fired based on their race, gender, religion, disability or other characteristics of their identity. But sexual and gender identity aren’t usually among those protections.
The AFL-CIO supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) currently before Congress. William Samuel, the director of the labor federation's Department of Legislation, sent the following letter to senators July 9:
I am writing on behalf of the AFL-CIO to urge you to vote for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013 (S. 815). The AFL-CIO believes it is wrong for any employer to discriminate against or fire a worker based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Discrimination in the workplace has no place in the United States.
The House had better REJECT this.
Locked up?
I always find these discussions interesting because in general terms, both sides are partially right. Since someone in my family was once fired for being Jewish, I am a bit sympathetic to that side, even though in general terms I understand that one should be able to hire or fire anyone they choose.
I know I didn’t get hired for a job just because (at the time) I smoked. I felt like that was way wrong!
In any decent state, you are employed “at will”, and your employer, who is using his personal money to pay you, can hire you or fire you for any reason or for no reason at all. Any effort to infringe on the employers private property rights by force is doomed to failure and will cause more harm than good. If an employer abuses that power, it’s time for a private boycott. If an attempted boycott is inappropriate, it will do no harm, or perhaps even some good for the employer (Chik-fil-A).
If a gay employee adds value to the company, it is unlikely that he will be fired for being gay.
If he is, he can rejoice that he no longer has to work for a “bigot”.
The Though Police aren’t interested in equality, they are interested in control.
No! ...I can’t!
With me its a matter of not caring if someone is gay. If sexuality isn’t part of the job description it shouldn’t even come up on the job.
On the other hand I have a militant lesbian cousin who goes out of her way to be a problem. She applies for jobs at Christian institutions and refuses to sign morality agreements only to harass and threaten. Now that she’s “married” in Minnesota, she and her other are talking about moving to Michigan and demanding their married rights.
If she couldn’t get attention for being a lesbian, she’d probably be married to a man and have kids.
They phrase it that way to sound alarming, but the fact is that it is the default for an employer to be able to fire a person for any kind of reason, because the government has little, if any, right to enforce involuntary private associations.
If you want to be alarmist about it, you could say:
“Did you know, you can be fired for having red hair?”
“Did you know, you can be fired for liking Justin Bieber?”
“Did you know, you can be fired for hanging the toilet paper in an overhand position?”
All of those things just as true, but they don’t help push someone’s political agenda to point them out.
It was about two years ago, around noon, I felt hungry and stopped by a Togo's place. As I was walking up to the counter I was looking for my wallet, and didn't really pay attention to what is behind the counter. That changed as soon as the being on the other side asked me, in such a high pitch voice that made my ears hurt, what sandwich do I want. The being was as thin as a stick figure; it was wearing a rainbow bracelet and a few other attributes of the "alternative lifestyle." To this day I cannot tell what was that - a man, a woman, or something in between - and where the gradient was pointing to. It was a jarring experience. However I pretended that nothing happened and went on with the order. I was visiting that location many times later, and I have never seen that person there again. I am sure the "less tolerant" people contacted the manager and recalibrated him. Tolerance or not, people still have freedom of association. People may be wrong about something, but that does not matter. A given pervert may or may not be a walking Petri dish teeming with HIV, but you do not know that. Statistics tell you your chances, and they are not good. A wise person would steer around, and why would a manager keep an employee that customers refuse to work with?
Just think of how many are out there that you don’t know are gay.
Bump!
You should put a warning on something from the AFL-CIO!
Come to Kansas.
Here a Private employer can fire you...
*Because he is the boss and you are not.
Thats friggen disturbing.
Well,union members don't;)
Please don’t confuse Right-to-Work, i.e. no forced unionization to hold a job, and At-Will Employment where both parties may conclude the employment relationship at any time, for any reason (or none), and without notice.
Discrimination is perfectly legitimate in a society which promotes freedom.
Much of the problem arises in the confusion of discrimination with prejudice. They have two very different meanings.
It is the job of Congress to discriminate between legitimate and illegitimate behavior. When they fail to discriminate, they aren’t doing their job.
Did mean for being homosexual ?
As far as being fired is concerned, I live in a right to work state, and have myself been fired for no reason other than, "we've decided to go a different direction at your position." What a cop out, but nonetheless it's my former boss' right to fire whoever he wants for whatever reason he wants. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
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