Did you know that a landmark Supreme Court Bostock decision has transformed the landscape for LGBTQ employees across the United States? In this enlightening episode of Employee Survival Guide®, Attorney Mark Carey delves into the monumental Bostock ruling, which extends vital protections under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to individuals facing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This ruling is not just a legal milestone; it’s a beacon of hope for countless employees navigating the murky waters of workplace sex discrimination.
Join us as Carey meticulously outlines the implications of this groundbreaking sex discrimination decision, emphasizing how it arms LGBTQ individuals with legal tools to combat sex discrimination in a hostile work environment. With bipartisan support for this ruling, it becomes clear that employment law is not a political battleground but a fundamental right for all employees. Carey sheds light on the cases of Jared Bostock, Donald Zarda, and Amy Stevens—real people who faced discrimination simply for being who they are. Their stories serve as powerful reminders of the ongoing fight for employee rights.
But it doesn’t stop there! Carey offers practical strategies for LGBTQ employees who may encounter discrimination in their careers. Learn how to document your experiences effectively, navigate potential legal challenges, and understand your rights in the workplace. Whether you’re dealing with sexual harassment, retaliation, or other forms of discrimination, this episode equips you with the knowledge you need to advocate for yourself and ensure a fair work environment.
As we wrap up, Carey issues a compelling call to action: be aware of your rights and don’t hesitate to seek legal counsel when necessary. This episode is not just about understanding employment law; it’s about empowering every employee to stand up against discrimination in the workplace. Tune in to discover how you can become an advocate for yourself and others, ensuring that your workplace is a supportive and inclusive environment.
Don’t miss this essential episode of Employee Survival Guide®, where we equip you with the tools to navigate employment law issues, advocate for your rights, and thrive in your career. Whether you’re facing discrimination, negotiating severance, or simply want to understand employee rights better, this episode is packed with insights that can change your professional life. Subscribe now and take the first step toward employee empowerment!
If you enjoyed this episode of the Employee Survival Guide please like us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We would really appreciate if you could leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Leaving a review will inform other listeners you found the content on this podcast is important in the area of employment law in the United States.
For more information, please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150, www.capclaw.com.
Disclaimer: For educational use only, not intended to be legal advice.
Transcript:
Hello, this is Mark Carey and welcome to this edition of the Employee Survival Guide, where you can learn everything your employer does not want you to know about and more. The Supreme Court just issued a groundbreaking decision making it unlawful for employers to discriminate on the basis of a person’s sexuality or gender identity. About half the states already have laws protecting LGBTQ employees. But this decision extends employment rights to all LGBT folks in America and opens the federal courts to them and this quarantine period. The bosses decision is certainly something to celebrate. On the day the Boston case was being argued. we predicted the now historic outcome in an article stating, quote, The court will hold that sexual orientation discrimination and discrimination based upon transgender status constitutes sex discrimination under Title seven of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, because adverse employment decisions, discriminate against the LGBTQ community are being made, quote, because of sex of the employee, and quote, honestly, there was only one direction that bostik holding could go granting protective status under Title seven. The decision is monumental and unpredictable for several reasons. First, it provides equal treatment to LGBTQ employees and their employment and provides tools to fight against employment discrimination. Sexual Orientation carries as equal a significance as race, national origin and religion under Title seven. Second, the Supreme Court’s decision demonstrates what we have been complaining about for a long time. Employment Law is not political, and should not be politicized. Employment Law is bipartisan and protects everyone. Here. conservative justices Gorsuch and Roberts, joined with the courts liberal wing, Bader Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan to expand title seven protections to a whole new class of employees. We are all equal under Title seven. Contrary to current popular media depiction that as a country we are inherently unequal and divided during this election season. The bostik decision actually involves three separate cases with almost identical facts and different outcomes. Frankly, advocates could not have dreamed up the perfect test cases for securing LGBTQ employee employment rights if they tried. They each involve long term employees who were fired from the jobs after employers learn they were homosexual or transgender. And for no other reason. They involve both public and private employers. Gerald Bostic worked at for Clinton County, Georgia as a child welfare advocate. For more than a decade, that county won national awards for the work he did, leading the department. When influential members of the community made disparaging remarks about Mr. Bostic participation in a gay softball league. He was fired for conduct unbecoming a county employee. The 11th circuit dismissed the case, holding the title seven to the Civil Rights Act does not prohibit employers from firing employees for being gay. Donald zardo was a skydiving instructor with altitude express in New York. After several years with the company Mr. zarda mentioned to a female student that he was, quote 100% gay to allay any discomfort she may have felt about their tandem jump. She was going to be extremely close to Mr. zarda strapped to the front of his body. days later he was fired. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that title seven prohibit employers from firing an employee for being gay. Mr. zarda died before his case reaches Supreme Court and his estate continued his legal battle, Amy Stevens work for RG and gr Harris funeral homes and Garden City Michigan for six years. During her tenure she presented as male when she informed her employer that she planned to live and work full time as a woman upon her returned from an upcoming vacation. The funeral home fired her saying this is not going to work out. The six searches decision was consistent with the Second Circuit. Title seven prohibited employers from firing an employee for being transgender. Miss Stevens died last month, yet her estate carried her fight to fruition. Justice Gorsuch, who wrote that opinion of the six three decision wrote an employer violates title seven would intentionally fires an individual employee based in part on sex. It doesn’t matter if other factors besides a plaintiff sex contributed to the decision. And it doesn’t matter if the employer treated women as a group the same when compared to men as a group. If the employer intentionally relies in part on the individual employees sex when deciding to discharge discharge the employee put differently if changing the employee’s sex would have yielded a different choice by the employer, a statutory violation has occurred. Title sevens message is simple, but momentous individual employees sex is not relevant to the selection, evaluation or compensation of employees. An individual’s homosexuality or transgender status is not relevant to employment decisions. That’s because it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homeless. Sexual a transgender without discriminating against that that individual based on sex at bottom these cases involve no more than straightforward application of legal terms with plain and subtle meanings for an employer to discriminate against employees for being homosexual or transgender. The employer must intentionally discriminate against individual men and women in part because of sex. That has always been prohibited by tell sevens playing like terms. And that should be the end of the analysis and quote, If you are an LGBTQ employee, and believe your experience unfair treatment at work, we have the following strategies your employer may not want you to know about. First, very quietly, write down your factual narrative in a chronological order on a computer, you do not use or access for work. writing your story is part of the investigative process that lawyers use to determine liability and how we advise our clients. If you are getting the sense, you are being set up for a performance improvement plan, so called Pip, or termination, your employer and your implemented in their employment attorneys are already examining and trying to control your factual narrative, but they will never tell you that. Second, quietly gather all offending and supportive emails, text messages, slack messages, etc. and preserve them. The contents of these documents should appear in your factual narrative in some form, or third, do not tell your supervisor or HR that you have potential claims until you speak to an employment attorney in our office or anywhere. Your supervisor and HR personnel do not represent you and work only against you on behalf of the employer, they will always deny this fact. Third, you need to decide if you are going to remain employed or seek a severance package from the employer. As attorneys we have an obligation to keep you employed for as long as possible for ranking purposes. More importantly, you may be able to gather, corroborating or direct evidence of discrimination by remaining employed, your employer will not predict you are secretly investigating them and trying to set them up. Yes, you can do that. Fourth, you never want to quit your job as you cannot collect unemployment benefits and is more difficult to demonstrate a constructive discharge on any type of discrimination or wrongful termination case that if we put your case together, we will then place the employer on notice that it is discriminate against you because of your sexual orientation and attempt to negotiate your exit package. sixth and final. Avoid litigation all costs do the expense and the time involved. Yes, lawyers do give that sort of advice and we do it every day. Thank you for listening, the Employee Survival Guide and good luck