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Dear John,
Since President Trump took office, his administration has proposed numerous regulations that would allow employers and businesses to use their personal beliefs to discriminate against LGBTQ people and women, often under the banner of “religious freedom.” From trying to undermine the landmark Health Care Rights Law, which prohibited sex discrimination in health care under the Affordable Care Act, to emboldening health care providers and entities to let their personal religious beliefs dictate the care patients receive, these rules are a clear attack on our rights.
And now, the administration is trying it again — the Department of Labor recently proposed a new rule that would allow employers who are federal contractors to justify discriminatory employment decisions in the name of personal religious beliefs.
That means the rights of hundreds of thousands of working people are at risk. If this rule were allowed to go into effect:
- A person working for a federal contractor could be fired for being pregnant and unmarried.
- A worker who is LGBTQ could be denied a job, just because of who they are.
- An employee could be terminated for using birth control or fertility services.
- A federal contractor could impose a rule that women employees can’t meet one-on-one with men employees.
It’s blatant discrimination – and we can’t allow it. The administration has only given us until September 16 to comment on this disastrous proposal.
Religious beliefs should never be used as a weapon to discriminate against people. But this administration is intent on trying to expand religious exemptions to critical antidiscrimination laws, which would allow employers and others to discriminate based on personal beliefs. This is sex discrimination and it’s illegal.
We need to make sure that we’ve all gone on record opposing these rules. Submit your comment to the Department of Labor before it’s too late.
Thank you for always fighting with us.
Emily Martin
Vice President for Workplace Justice
National Women's Law Center
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