You and ENDA…..
By Lindaj
It has come to light recently that some of you have been asking about ENDA. So here is a brief break down. ENDA stands for Employment Non-Discrimination Act; this is a bill that has been put forth in the US Senate for many years now. Each time a session hears it; the bill is taken off the floor for more adjustments and re-writes. Because of the issues the bill covers it winds up getting tabled and not voted on.
The bill in basic covers the issues that under Federal law a person cannot be turned down for employment or fired based on gender, gender expression, sexuality, sexual orientation. That was the basics of the original bill. Since its first presentation the bill has been modified to cover issues such as but not inclusive of bathrooms, changing rooms and other public areas that a person can be seen disrobed in front of another person of the opposite sex. Now there are other things that have been added to this bill, each re-write to encompass many issues that have in fact snagged the bill up in the past.
Some but not all issues on this also have to do with special exemption issues. The biggest exemption issue at hand is based on Religion. Currently, in brief, the exemption will allow any company or company owner(s) to not be forced to comply with this law if they can show that hiring or continued employment of a person described within the bill is morally against their religious beliefs. Now as discussed many times about this exemption comes down to but not limited to the words moral belief. I am sure I don’t have to give you an explanation on that. Other exemption issues fall under the size of the company, the scope of company business, private ownership and more. In basic these exemptions, as an example, it would allow me not to hire you but I can fire you because you are gay, lesbian or transgender because my religion says you are bad. Now the law does not say I have to practice my religion to prove this. Another example is, I don’t have hire you but can fire you because I employ less than 25 people and have no Human Resource department. So in essence any mom and pop run company is exempt.
It has been argued over and over we already have protection laws on the books against discrimination. That is true but they are so full of exemptions I could run a train through them and not even kick up any dust. If they were an umbrella and it rains I would be all wet. So this bill was brought and written to encompass a lot of the laws to one act.
So as you read this you are saying how will this affect me? This bill only covers employment. As I said this bill has been re-written and added to so many times. IT can affect you the next time you go to use a public restroom. It can affect you the next time you go to buy clothing and want to try it on. It can affect you the next time you go out to eat and get turned away because you are gay, lez or Trans. It can affect you the next time you go for a car loan, home loan, student loan or even buying something on payments. It can affect you the next time you go to rent an apartment or rent a car for the weekend.
This Bill as it was just passed in the US Senate will mandate but not limited to a wide scale of discrimination practices that are currently used. It will protect people under the law, other than the exemptions, to fair and equal treatment without bias. Again you ask how this affects me. Allow me to continue.
With this bill it will open doors to employment based on a person’s abilities to do the job hired for. So it will remove the gender role models of this is a man’s job and this is a women’s job. It will allow states to re-define or write new laws for their discrimination laws. This will become a Federal mandate for states to follow. To some point, yet limited, it will open the door to the separation of religion and government.
Now I will admit I have been a backer of this bill since it first conception and yes it is still flawed. But it is a start. On a personnel note I was once a business owner and in management of several companies. I always looked at an employee based on performance of their job, a new hire was done based on the possible abilities to do the job. So I. myself have been practicing non discrimination for most of my life. People are people and come in many sizes, shapes and colors.
To find out more you can Google USA ENDA or if you wish you can email me and I will send you some current news articles. But to stay on top of this issue please use your search engines to find the current information and please stand up for your rights to fair treatment. If you do not advocate for yourself than your feelings become suppressed.
you and ENDA
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you and ENDA
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