Fighting Sexual Orientation Discrimination in Ohio Workplaces.

Throughout the nation, laws are moving slowly but invariably towards greater protections for LGBT citizens.  Unfortunately, LGBT employees still do not have full protection from discrimination in the workplace, particularly in Ohio.  As a result, victims of employment discrimination due to sexual orientation will have no legal recourse in many instances.  But that is not always the case.  Under certain circumstances, LGBT victims of workplace discrimination can vindicate their rights.

There is a growing social and legal trend towards prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace.  According to a study by the Human Rights Campaign, as of Fall 2010, 89% of Fortune 500 companies included sexual orientation in their anti-discrimination policies.[i]  Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia now prohibit employment discrimination because of an employee’s sexual orientation.[ii]  Fifteen of those states and the District of Columbia ban gender identity discrimination as well, providing protection for transsexual and transgendered employees.[iii]  On the local level, more than 175 cities and counties across the nation, including most of the large cities in Ohio, have ordinances prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination.[iv]

Despite this growing trend, neither federal nor Ohio state employment discrimination statutes prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.  Repeated legislative attempts to these protections to the statutes have failed.  And the prospects for their addition in the near future are uncertain at best.  Absent legislative action that has yet to come, a private employer in Ohio can fire an LGBT employee for not being heterosexual without fear of violating federal or Ohio employment discrimination statutes.  Even the private employer who explicitly tells an employee “you’re fired because you’re gay” faces no statutory liability under federal or Ohio law.  It would thus seem at first glance that LGBT employees must simply accept that they are not protected from discrimination.  Yet while there are no traditional statutory protections, there are some legal options for Ohio employees who suffer workplace discrimination because they are not heterosexual.

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