Tag Archives: employment

Reuters reports: The U.S. Department of Justice has reversed course on whether federal law banning sex discrimination in the workplace provides protections for transgender employees, saying in a memo that it does not. The memo sent to U.S. Attorneys’ offices on Wednesday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 only prohibits discrimination on …

Vice News reports: Trump’s Justice Department appeared in federal court Tuesday to argue that employers should be able to fire people because they are gay. In a rare occasion, all 13 judges of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Zarda v. Altitude Express Tuesday. The case originated in 2010 when skydiving instructor Donald Zarda sued his …

Via press release: Today, HRC hailed the Birmingham City Council for passing city-wide non-discrimination protections that include sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, public accommodations and employment. This ordinance is the culmination of more than ten years of work from local LGBTQ grassroots organizers and a pro-equality coalition including Equality Alabama and HRC. “Today, the City of Birmingham made …

Via Qunnipiac Polling: American voters say 68 – 27 percent, including 55 – 39 percent among voters in military households, that transgender people should be allowed to serve in the military, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. Republicans opposed transgender service 60 – 32 percent, but every other party, gender, education, age or racial group supports transgender …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed: The US Justice Department on Wednesday argued in a major federal lawsuit that a 1964 civil rights law doesn’t protect gay workers from discrimination, thereby diverging from a separate, autonomous federal agency that had supported the gay plaintiff’s case. The Trump administration’s filing is unusual in part because the Justice Department isn’t a party in …

The Chicago Tribune reports: The Department of Homeland Security on Monday announced a one-time increase of 15,000 additional visas for low-wage, seasonal workers for the remainder of this fiscal year, a seeming about-face from President Trump’s “Hire American” rhetoric, following heavy lobbying from the fisheries, hospitality and other industries that rely on temporary foreign workers. The increase represents a 45 …

The Los Angeles Times reports: A Los Angeles jury has awarded a former city sanitation worker $17.4 million after finding that he endured repeated harassment by his supervisors, who falsely perceived that he was gay. Jurors deliberated for about two hours Wednesday before unanimously deciding that James Pearl of L.A. was subjected to verbal abuse, hazing and a bullying campaign …

Via press release from Labor Secretary Alex Acosta: This June, we recognize Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) Pride Month at the Department of Labor. The department honors the impactful contributions of all Americans, no matter their ethnic background, gender, religious affiliation, or sexual orientation. Pride at DOL, the Department’s Affinity Group for LGBTQ Employees and Allies, helps educate …

MarketWatch reports: Some 211,000 people found new jobs in April as hiring rebounded from a wobbly showing in early spring, offering fresh evidence the U.S. economy is still growing at healthy pace after a slow start to the year. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, dipped to 4.4% from 4.5% to set a postrecession low. The last time the rate was so …

The Washington Examiner reports: Former President Barack Obama revealed Wednesday his intention to donate $2 million to a summer jobs program for young people in Chicago. He made the announcement while at a roundtable about his soon-to-be-built presidential center and library in Chicago. The completion of that project is “about four years” away, Obama said. However, the programming of this …

CNN Money reports: President Trump says he wants to keep out people who threaten the security of the United States. But his policies are discouraging tourists and threatening the American travel business, experts say. One study forecasts a 10.6 million decline in visitors this year and next. The drop — nearly 7% of expected travelers — will cost the U.S. …

Stand by for Sean Spicer to declare that federal jobs data is fake once again. The New York Times reports: Hiring in March was expected to drop after the monthly gains of more than 200,000 in the two previous months, but this marks the weakest showing for the economy in nearly a year. Just 98,000 jobs were added last month. …

HUGE. The Associated Press reports: A federal appeals court in Chicago on Tuesday ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights Act also protects LGBT employees from workplace discrimination, the first time a federal appellate court has come to that conclusion. The decision by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes after it threw out a July finding by three of …

The New York Times reports: A class-action lawsuit about overtime pay for truck drivers hinged entirely on a debate that has bitterly divided friends, families and foes: The dreaded — or totally necessary — Oxford comma, perhaps the most polarizing of punctuation marks. What ensued in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and in a 29-page …

Via Mediaite: On Fox News Sunday today, Chris Wallace asked White House Chief Economic Advisor Gary Cohn about President Trump‘s past dismissals of jobs numbers. The White House touted the numbers out this past Friday, but as Wallace pointed out, during the campaign Trump called similar reports “phony.” Sean Spicer quoted Trump as explaining, “They may have been phony in …

CNBC reports: When asked about President Donald Trump’s reaction to the stellar jobs report on Friday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer had this to say: “I talked to the President prior to this [briefing], and he said to quote him for this, ‘[The jobs reports] may have been phony in the past, but it’s very real now.'” In the …

The Washington Post reports: America is great again. Why? Because, in Donald Trump’s first full month as president, the economy added 235,000 jobs according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Boom. And so the Drudge Report went ahead and declared Trump’s hat’s mission accomplished. Trump retweeted Drudge’s enthusiasm. It’s worth pointing out, though, that the 235,000 jobs added — a …

Holy crap. Wait for it to jump. From the clip description: Handle is a research robot that stands 6.5 ft tall, travels at 9 mph and jumps 4​ ​feet vertically. ​It uses electric power to operate both electric and hydraulic actuators, with a range of about 15 miles on one battery charge. ​​​Handle uses many of the same dynamics, balance …

NPR Tulsa reports: An Oklahoma senate panel approved a bill Monday to prevent city and county governments from outdoing state laws on employment and public accommodations. The bill initially prevented local governments from going further than any state law. A committee substitute focused it on employment and public accommodations laws. Senate Bill 694 author Sen. Joshua Brecheen [photo] sparred with …

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports: A 22-year St. Louis County police veteran who was once picked to become the department’s liaison to the gay community is now suing the department for discrimination. In a lawsuit filed Jan. 10, Sgt. Keith Wildhaber claims a former St. Louis County Police Board member told him to “tone down your gayness” if he ever …