WASHINGTON, DC- At a hearing today of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) urged passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) which would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Senator Casey is a cosponsor of ENDA.
Senator Casey released the following statement:
“It is long past time to require employers in the private sector to respect the rights and dignities of their employees and to provide employees with remedies in federal courts when they are the victims of egregious and insidious discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“I am proud to include both sexual orientation and gender identity in my office’s non-discrimination policy. I do not believe these protections should be limited to those Americans whose employers choose not to discriminate. It should not be up to those with economic power over employees to decide what protections they should have against discrimination in the workplace.
“Discrimination in the workplace hurts not only its victims. It hurts businesses, communities and the American people who deserve a country where employers compete for the best and brightest by providing them with a workplace where they can work productively without fear of discharge or harassment
“Many businesses already extend these protections, as we heard from the witnesses today. Of the 26 Fortune 500 companies in Pennsylvania, 25 have policies prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
“As we heard from Illinois Attorney General Madigan today, there has been no evidence of backlash by employers, there was significant support in the business community for these non-discrimination policies and Illinois’ new law has not led to frivolous lawsuits. In fact, as the Attorney General writes, ‘studies have…shown that companies that have instituted inclusive anti-discrimination policies and programs are less likely to experience discrimination lawsuits and have spent less on legal fees since the implementation of those policies.’ And Ms. Nguyen from Nike told us that ENDA is good for business because diversity and inclusive workforces are what spur innovation and competitiveness.
“I do not accept arguments that this law is duplicative or unnecessary because these protections already exist. In Professor Norton’s written testimony, she recounts a number of cases in federal courts where judges found acts of discrimination and harassment to be reprehensible and yet had no tools under federal law to provide workers with remedies. Reading about the treatment suffered by employees is chilling and it is clear that if employers inclined to permit such behavior in the workplace will not suffer any adverse consequences, they will have no incentive to stop it from happening
“In 2001, the Third Circuit heard an appeal from a case tried in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Bibby v. Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company. The District Court found that the plaintiff was harassed because of his sexual orientation, not because of his sex, and therefore rejected his claim under Title VII. In affirming the lower court’s judgment, the Court of Appeals wrote: ‘Harassment on the basis of sexual orientation has no place in our society. Congress has not yet seen fit, however, to provide protection against such harassment.’”
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