Move over Supreme Court, it’s the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that is sparking parades and celebrations across America this week. With a 3-2 vote, the EEOC has decided that the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and specifically Title VII, protects homosexuals from being fired from their jobs because of their sexual orientation. Under Title VII, it is an “unlawful employment practice” for an employer to terminate an employee or deprive an employee of opportunity based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and the EEOC has determined that firing a person because of sexual orientation indeed qualifies as “sex discrimination.” You really have to wonder if business owners are up to the challenge of making decisions based solely on whether or not someone is good at his job.
Of course, circuit courts have previously declared in rulings that employers are able to terminate employees based on sexual orientation, but to that the EEOC has essentially issued the age old legal proclamation: “Tough luck, bro.” For more on this landmark announcement, let’s check in with anchors Tom Storey and Briana Lane on today’s episode of The Desk.