Out & Equal Honors Companies Committed to LGBT Employees

By DMITRY RASHNITSOV

Do lesbians make less money than their gay counterparts? Do lesbians make less money than straight women? The Federal Government is trying to change that. The White House Middle Class Task Force and Council on Women and Girls unveiled recommendations from the Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force aimed at ending pay inequity and discrimination. The recommendations are related to the 2009 passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which helps women who face wage discrimination recover their lost wages.

The recommendations include ways to better inform employees about their rights and improve coordination among enforcement agencies. Advocates and officials also urged the Senate to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which will help ensure people who do equal work receive equal pay.

The law also helped to clarify the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) so that, “anyone who parents a child has the right to FMLA-protected leave — whether that is an LGBT family or an extended family — a ‘tia or aunt’ who steps in to care for a child because a parent is on military leave, and, yes, a daughter of a same-sex partnership may take leave to care for her non-adoptive or non-biological parent.”

“A year ago, we celebrated the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which is helping women who face wage discrimination recover their lost wages,” said National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey.  “That fair-minded and important law is working to extinguish a deep injustice that has unfairly and unnecessarily placed female employees — including lesbian, bisexual and transgender women — and their families in a highly vulnerable and untenable position. Still, much remains to be done to ensure fairness in the workplace.”

Carey said she hopes the passage of ENDA and the Paycheck Fairness Act will finally write some wrongs in the workforce.

“This can’t happen soon enough. In the United States, women comprise half of the workforce, and many families rely on those incomes to survive. Despite this, women still only make 77 cents for every dollar that men earn. For working women of color, the gap is even wider. To see this disparity continuing in 2010 is shameful. This must end; the recommendations, when implemented, will help get us there. Compounding the issue of unequal pay and discrimination in the workplace for many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people is having a job at all, which is why it is critical we pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to stamp out workplace discrimination against LGBT people. Our call to Congress: Pass ENDA now. All of society benefits when all of its people are free to fully contribute their talents, and are treated and compensated fairly. It’s good for individuals, good for families, good for the economy and good for the country. We thank Secretary Solis for including LGBT families in the Department of Labor’s vision for workplace fairness and in her remarks today.”

While the laws are making their way through Congress, some companies are being honored for their work to ensure that LGBT employees are being treated fairly.

The group Out & Equal Workplace Advocates will host the “11th Annual Out & Equal Workplace Awards Dinner” in Los Angeles in October. Some of the companies being honored for The 2010 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Employee Resource Group of the Year Award are: The Clorox Company, Texas Instruments, Turner Broadcasting Systems, Inc. and Sodexo.

“Every year, I am overwhelmed by the number and quality of the nominations received in each of the Workplace Awards categories,” noted Out & Equal Founding Executive Director Selisse Berry. “This year is no exception. Each of the finalists is among the top leaders in the LGBT workplace equality movement.”

Other companies that will be recognized at the awards ceremony are: Aetna, Cisco Systems, Ernst & Young and IBM. For more information about the awards ceremony visit: http://outandequal.org