Most Americans Think It's Illegal to Fire Someone for Being Gay. They're Wrong.

[theHandpuppet]

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-23/discrimination-at-work-is-it-legal-to-fire-someone-for-being-gay
Most Americans Think It's Illegal to Fire Someone for Being Gay. They're Wrong
By Josh Eidelson
June 26, 2014

As the White House prepares to issue an executive order that would bar federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, polls show that many Americans believe it’s already illegal to fire someone for being gay. In most states, it is not. A bill that would have offered lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employees federal protections—the Employment Non-Discrimination Act—passed the Senate last year, but it looks dead in the House.

So let’s say a gay person just came out to his boss—and got fired because of it. Is that legal? It depends.

What state are you in?
Most U.S. states lack explicit legislation barring discrimination against LGBT employees; current U.S. law is uneven, limited, and ambiguous. Only 21 states and the District of Columbia bar firing employees for their sexual orientation. Of those, 18 (and again, Washington) also ban firing transgender employees. California and Colorado have bans on orientation and gender identity discrimination; New York and Wisconsin have the former but not the latter; Florida and Pennsylvania have neither...

...Is the company very small?
If so, it might be exempt from state discrimination protections: While Connecticut’s law covers any company with three or more employees, for example (PDF), statutes in Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, and New Mexico don’t kick in until a company has at least 15 workers.

Is the worker covered by a union contract?
For employees under union contracts or other legally binding employment agreements, getting fired for sexual orientation or gender identity could provide grounds for legal action under reasonable cause clauses, according to Christy Mallory, senior counsel at UCLA’s Williams Institute....

MORE at link provided above.

[merrily]

1. I think I'd rather have them believe it's illegal everywhere.