The Supreme Court recently issued a major decision that will help many California residents. For the first time, LGBTQ employees can know that they are protected on the job from being fired on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. While many were unsure of the final outcome, they were surprised by the fact that it was a 6-3 decision written by a conservative justice.
Writing for the majority, Justice Gorsuch used conservative legal reasoning to justify a result that made liberals happy. Gorsuch used the textualist approach that conservatives like to use when interpreting statutes. They prefer to stick to the exact wording of the text and consider nothing else. This is what Gorsuch did when he looked at the word “sex” in the statute and held that it includes protections for people based on the gender with whom they choose to have sex.
Justice Kavanaugh wrote the dissent for the Court and argued that the court’s decision was legislating, even though he congratulated LGBTQ Americans for a policy victory. Twenty-two states already had laws on their books making it illegal to discriminate against LGBTQ workers. Now, this type of discrimination is a violation of federal civil rights law. The case represents the latest victory for the LGBTQ community, which has been successful in many major Supreme Court cases in recent years.
Those who identify as LGBTQ and believe that they have been discriminated against on the job for any reason now have the ability to file a lawsuit against the employer. They should contact a workplace discrimination attorney to learn more about how to protect their own legal rights and avail themselves of the court process. They should contact the attorney immediately after they believe that the discrimination has started so that they can lay the groundwork for legal action.