The federal administration is currently considering an executive order that would increase protection for members of the lesbian and gay communities.  

The order would expand current protection for members of the LGBT community to contractors who do business with the federal government.  The order is expected to cover at least 16 million employees. estimate that the proposed order would expand protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity to between 11 million and 16 million additional workers.  The LGBT workforce currently accounts for about 4% of the country's workforce. 

A number of think tanks are already encouraging the President to issue the order.  The Williams Institute has released a report titled the Impact of Extending Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Requirements to Federal Contractors.  According to the report, millions of Americans continue to live and work in environments that afford them no protection against gender identity and sexual orientation-based discrimination.

The report investigated the number of employees who are currently covered by the LGBT discrimination laws protecting against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as the percentage of employees who currently have access to health coverage for a same-sex partner.  The Williams Institute specifically looked at the number of people who would be eligible for protection if the president actually passes his order.  According to the Williams Institute, many private and public companies currently have policies that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.  However, many federal contractors do not have such policies, and an order like this would expand protections for the LGBT community. 

Photo by livinlowcarbman

http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=10868&MediaType=1&Category=25#

As any San Jose gender discrimination lawyer would tell you, gender discrimination is rife in the restaurant industry.  A new report titled Tipped over the Edge released by Restaurant Opportunities Centers United confirms this fact.

According to the report, discrimination in this industry includes everything from lower wages and fewer sick days off, to more harassment than female workers in other industries face.  Restaurant workers account for 7 out of the top 10 lowest paid occupations inside the United States, and most of these workers tend to be female.  These jobs are also well known for offering below-average wages that are at or below the poverty line. 

Restaurant servers are especially hard-hit by systemic discrimination in the industry.  They are almost 3 times more likely to receive wages that are below the poverty line, than female workers in the general workforce.  There are also twice as likely to require food stamps as female workers in general.

According to the report, the restaurant industry seems to have an established business model that depends heavily on relegating women to the lower rungs of the salary scale within restaurants.  They are not only relegated to the lower paying jobs, but also account for just about 14% of the positions in a restaurant, in spite of the fact that women tend to do most of the cooking in the home.  Additionally, women also tend to be confined to the lower paying sectors in the restaurant industry, like family dining and self-service, and not the higher-paying luxury fine dining segment. 

Female restaurant workers get fewer sick days off, and also experience 5 times more harassment in the workforce than females in the general workforce. 

http://rocunited.org/blog/tipped-over-the-edge-gender-inequity-in-the-restaurant-industry/

Photo by peter burge

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans spend approximately 10 times more time working than they do socializing.  With all that time in the office, it's not so surprising that romances often bloom cross cubicle.  Unfortunately, San Jose workplace retaliation lawyers find that most of these romances will not have a happy ending. 

Many of them will end in breakups and recrimination.  In some cases, the end of the affair can be the start of harassment, retaliation and a host of other tactics aimed at forcing the former flame out of the office. 

In fact, according to research conducted 2 years ago, the number of office romances has dropped, with an increase in the number of retaliation lawsuits filed.  In 2010, a survey conducted by Monster.com found that 75% of workers surveyed believed that an office romances ended in conflict.  62% believe that an office romance detracted from job performance. 

According to another survey by Careerbuilder,com, there has been a dramatic decline in workplace romances.  In 2006, roughly half of all respondents admitted to having had a fling in the workplace.  In 2010, that number had declined to 37%.

Some companies actually encourage romance in the workplace.  For instance, Southwest Airlines has a policy that encourages interoffice dating, and the company boasts of hundreds of married couples.  Virgin Atlantic boss Richard Branson also finds employees falling in love as something to be celebrated.  

Photo by  jcoterhals

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_39/b4196073729941.htm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/14/valentines-day-office-romance-common-more-third-american-workers_n_1263941.html

For years, it's been the worst kept secret in Silicon Valley.  Tech employers frequently discriminate against employees based on their age.

For confirmation of that fact, you don't have to look further than the age of the average employee in Silicon Valley.  The average age of an employee at Apple is 33, while the average age of an employee at Google is even lower at 31.  Facebook has some of the youngest employees around at 26 years of age.  Other tech companies like HP and IBM, fare a little better with an average employee age of 44. 

Some sectors in the industry, like social media and social networking companies have particularly poor records.  In these segments, anyone aged above 40 would be considered old and over the hill.

According to the tech industry, it's important for employees to be aggressive and imaginative, two qualities that are very often associated with youth.  This discrimination against older workers has already resulted in various lawsuits against tech giants.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57368586/dark-side-of-social-media-age-discrimination

The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against a San Diego hospital, alleging that the hospital discriminated against immigrant and non-US citizen workers. 

The hospital, the University of California San Diego Medical Center allegedly demanded excessive paperwork from immigrant job applicants, and non-US citizen job applicants, in order to prove that they were eligible to work in this country.  However, no excessive demands were made from American citizens who applied for jobs at the hospital.  The lawsuit is seeking unspecified monetary compensation for workers who applied for jobs at the hospital between January 2004 and June 2011.

According to the University of California San Diego Medical Center, it was informed about the federal administration's concerns about these recruitment policies in January.  The hospital says that since then, it has made changes to its recruitment and hiring processes, and is now in compliance with regulations.  According to the hospital, it has not been able to find any applicant who was refused employment in the hospital based on discrimination. 

The hospital now allows workers to choose from a much longer list of documentation that they can use to prove that they are able to work in this country.  These documents include drivers’ licenses, Social Security and other identification that is allowed by federal immigration authorities.  The hospital has also arranged for training for employees to discuss common mistakes that are made while dealing with federal forms.  It has invited an employee of the Department Of Homeland Security to conduct part of this training.

Employment discrimination based on a person’s citizenship status is not unknown to San Jose employment lawyers, although many people tend to assume that discrimination is only based on gender, race, age, religion, color and other factors.  Often, temporary residents, refugees and asylees may find that they are subjected to differential treatment based on their citizenship status.