Does Your Training Address Sexual Orientation? It Should.

This month, a former employee of Qwest Communications filed a lawsuit alleging he was discriminated against for being gay, including being called “faggot” by co-workers and having anti-gay pamphlets put on his desk. According to the plaintiff, Donald Moreau, he faced the blatant discrimination for more than four years.

Speaking to the press, Moreau actually referenced the company’s training programs on harassment and discrimination prevention as part of the problem -- “The training had nothing to do with sexual orientation, the trainer made jokes. I basically felt re-discriminated against all over again …”

While sexual orientation has been largely ignored for many years in traditional employment law training, a contemporary harassment prevention program must address it. Sexual orientation is not a protected category under federal law, but it is protected under several state laws. (Most recently Washington State, with House Bill 2661.) More importantly, most progressive employers include sexual orientation in their prohibited harassment policies. These employers recognize the demographics of the workforce, and the necessity of protecting and respecting all workers.

Sexual orientation harassment and discrimination also skates along the edge of basic gender discrimination – for example, when an employee is teased for being too masculine or too feminine. Even in a state that does not include sexual orientation as a protected category, this kind of conduct could give rise to a gender discrimination claim.

At the end of the day, employers should live in reality. A significant portion of their workforce is gay. They need to protect those workers, and protect the organization from risk.

Tags: Federal Harassment Training, harassment training, sexual harassment, sexual harassment training, sexual orientation, sexual orientation discrimination,