Last week, voters in Anchorage, Alaska voted against a law that would have prohibited employment discrimination against employees because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Notably, both of Alaska’s U.S. Senators supported the law against discrimination. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said of the law, “I think this is overdue and…
Today, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld a $547,000 judgment against Express Jet Airlines for its sexual orientation discrimination against a former gay employee, Edward Russell. $500,000 of this judgment was for the emotional distress that Mr. Russell suffered due to Express Jet’s discrimination and the rest was for back…
A group of lawmakers in Ohio have introduced a bill, HB 335, that would ban discrimination against LGBT employees. The lawmakers who introduced the bill include a Republican. The Republican party currently controls both houses of the Ohio state legislature. The last time a similar bill was voted on in…
The Maine Employee Rights Group is currently representing two whistleblowers in a lawsuit against Alutiiq, LLC and some related companies (collectively referred to here as Alutiiq). Alutiiq entered into a contract with the Navy and began to provide security services at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY) in 2009. Shortly after,…
Connecticut has become the most recent state to prohibit employment discrimination against transgendered individuals. On June 4, 2011, the Connecticut Senate passed a bill prohibiting such discrimination and the Governor of Connecticut has promised to sign it into law. In a statement released after the vote, the Governor of Connecticut…
Maine Senator Susan Collins has co-sponsored the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill that would prohibit employers from discriminating against employees because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Maine law already prohibits employment discrimination against people because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. However, according to the Human…
On February 17, 2011, Massachusetts’ governor signed an executive order which bans discrimination against state employees and employees of state contractors because of their gender identity. This new law would protect some of Massachusetts’ transgender employees from discrimination. However, it does not protect all transgender employees–it only protects those working…
On June 25, 2010, a jury in Cumberland County Superior Court, in Portland, Maine, found that Express Jet discriminated against a former employee, Edward Russell, because of his sexual orientation. The jury awarded a total of $1,047,000 in damages to Mr. Russell. Express Jet discriminated against Mr. Russell when it…
On July 14, 2009 the Maine Human Rights Commission (MHRC) found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Home Depot discriminated against Nicolette McGinley because of her sexual orientation and because she complained about sexual harassment. Ms. McGinley worked at the Home Depot store in South Portland, Maine. The…