State offers checklist on discrimination

Does your company list sexual orientation, including gender identity, as part of its non-discrimination policy? Does your company offer family-leave benefits equally to unmarried same-sex and opposite-sex domestic partners?

If an employer answers “yes” to these and other questions in a unique new guide prepared by the Washington State Human Rights Commission, he or she is likely to be in compliance with the state’s new sexual orientation provisions of the Washington Law Against Discrimination.

In June, Washington became the 17th state to include homosexuals in the law banning discrimination based on race, national origin, sex and disability, and one of seven states that extends protections to transgendered people.

However, Washington is believed to be the first state in the nation to offer a “self-assessment checklist for compliance” with the new provisions, said Marc Brenman, Human Rights Commission director.

“There are other kinds of checklists, on disabilities for instance, but this is the first we know of in the area of sexual orientation,” Brenman said.

There are bound to be some employers who just don’t get it. So the commission has prepared the “Guide to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Discrimination, and Washington State Laws” to assist businesses, especially the smaller ones that can’t afford in-house legal counsel, for example, Brenman said.

He described the guide as a “proactive, preventative, non-adversarial way” for a business to evaluate itself without the involvement of government agencies.

The guide is not intended as a replacement for professional legal advice, according to a forward, but it can be a tool to help implement policies, prevent confusion and foster inclusiveness in the workplace.

Brenman envisions someone in a company’s human services department going down the checklist and comparing it to policies and practices already in place. It’s a “how are we doing” exercise that might lead to a course correction or even consultation with groups representing gay and transgender rights groups.

“We strongly believe that non-discrimination is an economic development issue,” Brenman said, adding that companies that discriminate the least do the best in terms of employee retention.

He said that the New Jersey Civil Rights Division is adapting the Washington state guide for use and the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing also is distributing the guide, which was released last week and is expected to be available soon on the Washington State Human Rights Commission Web site, www.hum.wa.gov.

“Our state statute says we are supposed to educate and prevent as well as investigate,” Brenman said. This guide offers a way to implement the law before a business becomes the subject of a discrimination complaint.