DENVER—Employers are bracing for a new law going into effect Friday that will allow workers to sue them over discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The law is among more than 100 going into effect that day. Others allow gay couples to adopt children, allow pharmacists to redistribute cancer medication and impose bigger fines on big-rig truckers who don’t chain up in bad weather.
Beth MacDonald, an employment attorney, said she is telling employers to document performance problems if they plan to fire a worker after the law barring sexual discrimination goes into effect.
“I think the impact is going to be significant. I think we’re going to see a lot of litigation,” she said.
MacDonald said employers could easily run afoul of the law because they have no way of knowing their workers’ sexual orientation. She said employees don’t want to acknowledge their shortcomings and blame problems with employers on other issues, including sexual orientation.
Mindy Barton, legal director of the Colorado Legal Initiatives Project, a gay rights support group, said about 20 percent of the 350 calls a year the group gets seeking legal advice involve discrimination over sexual orientation.
She said she does not believe the new law will be misused.
“I see it as a big step in protection of peoples’ rights,” she said.
The Division of Civil Rights estimated it would receive 80 complaints a year, with about 10 providing enough evidence to pursue.
Currently, the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act bars discrimination based on disability, race, creed, color, sex and national origin. MacDonald said the new law adds sexual orientation and religion to the list of characteristics that cannot legally be considered in an employer’s decision to hire, fire, promote or demote.
They also may not be grounds for discriminating financially against a worker.
Religious organizations are exempt unless they are supported by taxes.
MacDonald said Colorado is the 20th state to ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and the 12th to ban it on the basis of gender identity.
She said federal laws apply to companies with 15 or more employees, while the new Colorado law applies to all employers.
A new law allowing same-sex partners to adopt children also goes into effect. Current state law allows gay individuals to adopt but not same-sex partners. Married couples are already allowed to adopt each other’s children as stepparents.
Republicans charged the measure was aimed at promoting a “homosexual agenda” and paving the way toward civil unions for gay couples. They said Colorado voters rejected gay adoption last fall when they voted against Referendum I, which would have allowed couples who registered as domestic partners to adopt children.
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On the Net:
Colorado Legal Initiatives Project: tives.htm
