Law Trump administration proposes rule allowing federal contractors to fire based on race, sex, religion

[Trotsky]

Because of course.

The worst part is that this move, which would allow contractors who fire workers to raise the defense of religious liberty, isn't primarily religious bigotry. Primarily, it's just another giveaway to corporations and blow to worker rights.

The Department of Labor proposed a rule Wednesday allowing “religion-exercising organizations” with federal contracts to raise religious exemptions if accused of bias in their hiring practices.

The Labor Department said the proposal, which is set to officially be published in the Federal Register on Thursday, is intended to help companies “make employment decisions consistent with their sincerely held religious tenets and beliefs without fear of sanction by the federal government.”

The Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), which regulates federal anti-discrimination requirements for businesses and other organizations that work with the government, said the rule applies to both religious companies as well as “closely held” groups acting in accordance with their owners’ religious beliefs and is based on past laws and court rulings detailing protections for certain groups.

“Today’s proposed rule helps to ensure the civil rights of religious employers are protected,” acting Labor Secretary Patrick Pizzella said in a statement. “As people of faith with deeply held religious beliefs are making decisions on whether to participate in federal contracting, they deserve clear understanding of their obligations and protections under the law.”

The proposal will be open for public comments until Sept. 16.

Advocacy groups have long warned that such protections intend to provide cover for groups with discriminatory hiring practices.

“The Department of Labor just proposed a rule that aims to let government contractors fire workers who are LGBTQ, or who are pregnant and unmarried, based on the employers’ religious views,” the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) tweeted after the proposal was announced. “This is taxpayer-funded discrimination in the name of religion. Period.”

“This rule seeks to undermine our civil rights protections and encourages discrimination in the workplace — and we will work to stop it,” the group added.



https://thehill.com/homenews/admini...abor-grants-businesses-with-federal-contracts

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Importantly, this doesn't only apply to expressly religious organization, but rather any that purports to have a religious purpose, even if it's not central to their charter:

The 46-page draft rule from the Labor Department would apply to a range of so-called religious organizations — including corporations, schools, and societies — provided that they claim a “religious purpose.”

But the Trump administration makes clear in the draft rule that a corporation needn’t focus entirely on religion to qualify, saying, “The contractor must be organized for a religious purpose, meaning that it was conceived with a self-identified religious purpose. This need not be the contractor’s only purpose.”

“A religious purpose can be shown by articles of incorporation or other founding documents, but that is not the only type of evidence that can be used,” says the rule, which grants companies many opportunities to claim that faith or morals guide their purpose.

Labor Department spokesperson Megan Sweeney confirmed to BuzzFeed News on Wednesday that the rule could protect for-profit corporations with federal contracts if they discriminate, given they make a religious claim.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/articl...st-proposal-would-let-businesses-discriminate

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Perhaps most concerning of all, this presents another fulcrum for the Trump Justice Department to try to force the EEOC to take their anti-worker stances in an attempt to weaponize the worker protection organization against workers like the EPA has been weaponized against the environment:

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Justice Department are split on the issue. The DOJ has recently tried to pull the worker civil rights agencyinto line with its opinion.

The EEOC enforces federal anti-discrimination laws against a wide range of employers and federal contractors. The OFCCP specifically focuses on an executive order banning discrimination by contractors. Unlike Title VII, the order explicitly outlaws workplace bias based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

“OFCCP is consistently looking for ways to bring clarity and certainty to federal contractors, and this proposal falls squarely within that effort,” OFCCP Director Craig Leen said in an Aug. 14 statement. “The rulemaking process allows the public opportunity to comment on the proposal and impact any potential final rule.”

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily...says-religious-contractors-free-from-bias-law​

 

[zebby23]

These religious beliefs are usually pretty bigoted

Maybe it’s just me

 

[tonni]

Question: does this mean you can fire Trump supporters for being idolaters?

 

[xcvbn]

Finalizing that marriage of Trumpism with far right Christian fascism

 

[Amerikuracana]

Well somebody needs to make it so that straight white males aren't thee only people that can be fired without reason. Period. Equal rights or it was all for nothing.

 

[Trotsky]

Well somebody needs to make it so that straight white males aren't thee only people that can be fired without reason. Period. Equal rights or it was all for nothing.

Dude....that's already the rule. White (race) males (sex) are/were protected.

Now, a corporation can fire you for being a white male and say it was because of a sentence in their handbook saying they are Black Rastafarian or some shit.

 

[IGotAHugePeckah]

Absolutely ridiculous.

 

[PolishHeadlock2]

But what if these contractors choose to boycott products from Israel for their 1A rights?

 

[bobgeese]

But what if these contractors choose to boycott products from Israel for their 1A rights?

 

[brody_in_ga]

Good. If a man or woman starts a business, they should have the right to hire and fire whom they please. Let the market determine such things.

For example, if a black barbershop only wants to hire black people, that should be his right. If a Mexican gentleman opens a restaurant that caters to only Mexicans, leave them be. God bless them. No one should be forced at gunpoint to fulfill some government quota based off of the fairy tale of "diversity". Simply put, a mans business is his property and he should have the say on how he handles it.

 

[Ophydian]

From a logical point I don’t see the point in these type of fairly controversial changes. I worked for many years for a top 10 Corp based on market cap. I find it difficult to believe that these types of corporations will change their hiring firing practices based on an administration that has anywhere between two and six years left.

 

[Ophydian]

Good. If a man or woman starts a business, they should have the right to hire and fire whom they please. Let the market determine such things.

For example, if a black barbershop only wants to hire black people, that should be his right. If a Mexican gentleman opens a restaurant that caters to only Mexicans, leave them be. God bless them. No one should be forced at gunpoint to fulfill some government quota based off of the fairy tale of "equality". Simply put, a mans business is his property and he should have the say on how he handles it.

Your white privilege is showing. Fuck that whole civil rights thing right?

 

[brody_in_ga]

Question: does this mean you can fire Trump supporters for being idolaters?

Sure! If you have a business and don't feel comfortable hiring Trump supporters, then you shouldn't be forced to. That should be your right.

 

[xcvbn]

But what if these contractors choose to boycott products from Israel for their 1A rights?

You can't boycott Israeli goods produced in settlements- that's racist.

 

[brody_in_ga]

Your white privilege is showing. Fuck that whole civil rights thing right?

You think privately black owned businesses should be forced to hire White people?

 

[Quipling]

Well somebody needs to make it so that straight white males aren't thee only people that can be fired without reason. Period. Equal rights or it was all for nothing.

If you get fired for being white, then that is illegal (racial discrimination). If you get fired for being male, then that is illegal (sex-discrimination). What you are demanding is already provided by the legal system. You just don't know that.

 

[BarryDillon]

More disgusting bullshit from this clown show.

 

[Amerikuracana]

Dude....that's already the rule. White (race) males (sex) are/were protected.

Now, a corporation can fire you for being a white male and say it was because of a sentence in their handbook saying they are Black Rastafarian or some shit.

But that's not the reality of how it works. My cult diversity professor told all the black people in the class to file with the eeoc every time they were fired, because he knew people (more than 1) that had paid off houses and cars that way.

Was in law school with a guy pulling a bs discrimination suit after being fired, and in trial skills I had to make his case lol.

I have been mobbed up and fired for nothing a couple (too many) times, and I've also been on "the cool team" and seen it happen to others. Always a white male, with one exception where I was "in" and this nerdy Muslim was kind of conspired against.. This was a gym and he was weak as hell and literally did smell bad.. But I was still cool to him myself because I don't make money playing mean games. That was like 2002-3 and things have changed since then.

 

[Trotsky]

No one should be forced at gunpoint to fulfill some government quota based off of the fairy tale of "equality". Simply put, a mans business is his property and he should have the say on how he handles it.

L-l-let the m-m-market decide. Freeeedom.

You think privately black owned businesses should be forced to hire White people?

If they are entering into contracts with the government of a country that is 60% white? Of fucking course.

Given your great posts about immigrants "pouring into" white countries and destroying their culture, I'd think you'd be more sensitive to using government as a apparatus for racial discrimination.

 

[Trotsky]

But that's not the reality of how it works. My cult diversity professor told all the black people in the class to file with the eeoc every time they were fired, because he knew people (more than 1) that had paid off houses and cars that way.

Was in law school with a guy pulling a bs discrimination suit after being fired, and in trial skills I had to make his case lol.

I have been mobbed up and fired for nothing a couple (too many) times, and I've also been on "the cool team" and seen it happen to others. Always a white male, with one exception where I was "in" and this nerdy Muslim was kind of conspired against.. This was a gym and he was weak as hell and literally did smell bad.. But I was still cool to him myself because I don't make money playing mean games. That was like 2002-3 and things have changed since then.

Except that is how it really works

• In July 2007, the EEOC received a favorable jury verdict in its Title VII lawsuit against the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P) alleging that a Black senior manager terminated a White manager because of his race. The jury concluded the White manager was discharged solely because of his race and awarded approximately $85,000 in monetary relief. EEOC v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., C.A. No. 1:05-cv-01211-JFM (D.Md. verdict filed July 30, 2007).