Connecticut Outlaws Gender Identity Discrimination

Along with the landmark paid sick leave law discussed yesterday, the Connecticut General Assembly also has outlawed discrimination based upon gender identity or expression. 

House Bill 6599, passed on June 4, makes it illegal to discriminate based upon a person's "gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person's physiology or assigned sex at birth."  The prohibition is comprehensive, applying not just to employment, but also to housing, state contracts, higher education, library services, utility services, automobile insurance, trade, public accommodations, credit, state services and golf club memberships.  This enormous step forward in LGBT rights, which Governor Malloy intends to sign, will take effect on October 1, 2011.  The employment provisions are extremely broad, as they apply to every employer in Connecticut with at least three employees.


I can't tell you how gratifying it is that my home state is working to swing the pendulum back towards protecting the rights of human beings, instead of corporate "persons."

New EEOC Regulations Make It Easier To Prove Disability Discrimination

In 2008, Congress passed the ADA Amendments Act.  The law overturned several Supreme Court decisions that had narrowly interpreted the definition of "disability" under the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Today, the EEOC has issued new regulations implementing the ADAAA.

Among the changes:

• Whether a physical impairment is considered to be a disability should be construed as broadly as possible.
• A physical impairment need not prevent or severely or significantly restrict performance of a major life activity to be considered a disability.
• “Mitigating measures,” such as medication and assistive devices like hearing aids, must not be considered when determining whether someone has a disability. 
• Episodic impairments, such as epilepsy, or impairments that are in remission, such as cancer, are disabilities if they would be substantially limiting when active.
• The regulations also make it easier for individuals to be “regarded as” having a disability, focusing on how the person was treated rather than on what an employer believes about the nature of the person’s impairment.
  
  The ADAA and these new regulations became necessary because federal courts have been particularly hostile to the ADA.  While the language of the ADA is very broad, courts have interpreted it in such a way that it became almost impossible to prove both that you were disabled and that you were still capable of performing the essential functions of a job.  Indeed, it had gotten so bad that my practice had been to advise victims of disability discrimination to ignore the ADA and bring their claims just under Connecticut law, which is much more employee-friendly.  The ADAAA and the new regulations have breathed new life into the ADA.  Let's hope that conservative, business-oriented judges get the message this time and don't start a new round of limitations on the law.
  
  You can get more information on the ADAAA and the new regulations from the EEOC by clicking here.