The Employment Non-Discrimination Act

[LAGent4ts]

If information about this had already been posted and I missed it, my bad and the mods can delete this. If not, here is a Public Service Announcement

While no legislation is perfect, this version appears to be a step in the right direction. Here is an opportunity to let your opinion be heard and only takes a few minutes.

ENDA (The Employment Non-Discrimination Act) - with Gender Idenity inclusive has been introduced in the Senate. Pres Obama has said he will sign it, so it falls to the Senators to get it to his desk. You can e-mail your senators [link courtesy of NCLR] everything is automated so it only takes a moment.

http://eqfed.org/campaign/endaintroduction_senate

What ENDA Does
Extends federal employment discrimination protections currently provided based on race, religion, sex, national origin, age and disability to sexual orientation and gender identity
Prohibits public and private employers, employment agencies and labor unions from using an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity as the basis for employment decisions, such as hiring, firing, promotion or compensation
Provides for the same procedures, and similar, but somewhat more limited, remedies as are permitted under Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act
Applies to Congress and the federal government, as well as employees of state and local governments

What ENDA Does Not Do
Cover businesses with fewer than 15 employees
Apply to religious organizations
Apply to the uniformed members of the armed forces (the bill doesn’t affect the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy)
Allow for quotas or preferential treatment based on sexual orientation or gender identity
Allow a "disparate impact" claim similar to the one available under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Therefore, an employer is not required to justify a neutral practice that may have a statistically disparate impact on individuals because of their sexual orientation or gender identity
Allow the imposition of affirmative action for a violation of ENDA
Allow the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to collect statistics on sexual orientation or gender identity or compel employers to collect such statistics.
Apply retroactively

And now back to normal programing..

[mansamusa]

Thanks..

[LAGent4ts]

For anyone interested, this is the response to the e-mail I sent to Barbara Boxer re Senate Bill 1584 (ENDA) of 2009 and my follow up:

Dear Mr. :

Thank you for writing to me to about S.1584, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) of 2009. I appreciate hearing from you, and I am proud to report that I am an original co-sponsor of this important bill.

As you may know, ENDA is a bipartisan effort to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. This federal protection is long overdue and would ensure that all Americans are treated fairly by employers in the job-seeking process and in the workplace..

I am pleased that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009 has been introduced in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Rest assured that I will work with my colleagues to ensure that this legislation passes Congress and is signed into law.

Again, thank you for writing to me. Please know that I will continue my efforts to prevent workplace discrimination and to make certain that fair and equal employment practices are always exercised.

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

Now, knowing a little about how these things work in Washington, it is rare that a piece of legislation gets passed without some modifications, so I decided to send a follow up to the Senator as follows:

Dear Senator Boxer:

Thank you for your response to my e-mail. As a follow up to my prior correspondence, let me add that my expectation of you, as my elected voice in Washington, is that your support of Senate Bill 1584 be conditioned upon your NOT SUPPORTING any modification, alteration, or removal of the words "gender identity" or any modification to the bill that might limit the scope of the "all inclusive" intent of the legislation as currently drafted.

The time has come, and in fact is long overdue for the more "enlightened" elected officials such as yourself to convince your "less enlightened" colleagues that Discrimination against ANY group is wrong and that it is time for these individuals to get off of their "moralistic high horse", put their concerns about re-election aside and simply do the right thing for All Americans. America cannot be the greatest country in the world if it is not inclusive to all of its citizens.

Thank you for your continued support of this legislation.

With the link provided, contacting your elected officials about this legislation takes less than 5 minutes.

[peggygee]

Contact Info For The President And Congress

Contact The President:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Contact Your Senators:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contac...nators_cfm.cfm

Contact Congress:

http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/