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Based on a recent Gallop Poll, nearly 87-90% of Americans believe that gays and lesbians should have equal rights in terms of job opportunities. While states continue to expand employment law protections (see NGAL Task Force State Map of Non-Discrimination Laws) federal laws still do not expressly prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. There’s also no federal coverage for gender identity, which relates to an employee’s beliefs about whether s/he is male or female. It’s an astonishing gap that puts the U.S. behind the curve on the world stage when it comes to civil rights protections.

But one legislative initiative is putting these issues front and center on the national agenda. It’s called the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The EDNA is not a new initiative. It’s actually bounced around Congress in one form or another since 1974. And it’s been languishing for nearly a decade.

Just last week, Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law The Safe Place To Learn Act, also known as AB 394. Even though this California law is limited in scope and application to the public school sector, employers across the country should sit up and take note. The outpour of public reaction to AB 394 paints a dramatic picture of the diametrically opposed, and passionate viewpoints that people (i.e. your employees) have about sexual orientation and gender identity.

So let’s start with the basics.  What’s AB 394 all about?

Supporters of the new law say that it’s designed to protect students in public schools, including those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, from harassment and bullying at school. The new law requires anti-harassment training for students, parents, and teachers.

What could drive successful management-side employment attorneys out of their practices? Money. And we are talking lots of it. “There’s a place in Reno, Nev., that practically mints money” claims last week’s cover story in BusinessWeek.

The magazine isn’t talking about a new Federal Reserve Bank, or a mortgage lender that hasn’t heard the bad news about loose lending protocols…BusinessWeek featured the crippling trend of wage and hour litigation: Wage Wars: Workers—from truck drivers to stockbrokers—are winning huge overtime lawsuits.

The article profiled a couple of attorneys who “got smart,” switched sides, and now make tens of millions of dollars (often settling just one case) by suing US employers for wage and hour violations. (For some additional sobering information on super-sized settlements, check out the ELT Webinar: The Wage and Hour War: Managing Risk in an Ever Changing Environment).