“Before Obergefell, there was a steady trend towards increased workplace rights for LGBT employees. After Obergefell, the employment law community should expect to see renewed, and increasingly successful, efforts to expand those rights.”
The most recent publication of Wolters Kluwer Employment Law Daily includes an article by Dave Wachtel and Karen Tanenbaum from Bernabei & Kabat. In it, they address the recent landmark Supreme Court case, Obergefell vs. Hodges, which held that banning gay marriage violates the constitution.
“While this decision addresses marriage, not employment, it likely signals the arrival of a change in employment law, too,” they write, and go on to acknowledge that, “Despite recent increases in legal protections for LGBT individuals, however, there currently is no federal law protecting LGBT employees from employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (such as one’s sexual preference) or gender identity (such as transgender status).”
Wachtel and Tanenbaum discuss the current anti-discrimination protections for LGBT individuals within the workplace and why expansions of these protections should be expected across the board. Cases include Prince Waterhouse v. Hopkins, Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, Macy v. Department of Justice and more.
“Before Obergefell, there was a steady trend towards increased workplace rights for LGBT employees. After Obergefell, the employment law community should expect to see renewed, and increasingly successful, efforts to expand those rights.”
