RICHMOND, Va. (CN) – For members of the LGBTQ community who face discrimination in Virginia, state remedies are limited if not entirely nonexistent.
“You’re out of luck,” state Delegate Mark Levine, D-Alexandria, said in a phone interview. “They could discriminate all they want.”
But new legislation, set for a final vote in the Senate Thursday, is about to change all of that.
The Virginia Values Act adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes in the state’s public and private employment, housing and public accommodations laws. It also creates entirely new, state-level mechanisms to address these complaints.
“Private acts of discrimination can subordinate individuals and groups of people, impairing their dignity,” said J.H. Verkerke, the T. Munford Boyd professor of law at the University of Virginia, explaining the importance of civil rights laws established in the 1960s following centuries of racism and discrimination against a host of individuals. “If you have a society with a lot of discrimination, you create a caste system with some better off and some diminished and that’s not a good thing.”
But decades later, and as minority groups have gained power and influence, some individuals – most recently LGBTQ people – have been left out. Federal law, namely Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, creates federal protections, though adjustments have been made to address growing needs. Protections for people with disabilities, for example, weren’t added until 1990.
And while Congress has failed to add LGBTQ people to the list, the Civil Rights Act does allow states to expand who they protect and under what conditions.
With the passage of the Virginia Values Act, the state will become the 23rd to add sexual minorities – but will also do much more than that.
The bill creates a state-level cause of action for discrimination complaints for businesses with between six and 14 employees, as well as those with more than 15. Federal law only protects those who work for employers with more than 15 workers, so Virginians were left without recourse if they were mistreated. Now they’ll be able to choose either state or federal courts, and with state courts often working faster and easier to navigate, it should benefit employees who face discrimination.
Additionally, the bill expands the terms under which the claims can be filed. Currently being fired is covered at the state level, while federal law covers complaints ranging from failure to promote to workplace harassment and other levers, such as forcing a woman to pump breast milk in a bathroom.
After the passage of the Virginia Values Act, state remedies will include those available in federal claims.
“These kinds of accommodations are critical to people and their jobs and firing was a tiny component of discrimination claims,” said Levine, who helped author the House version of the bill. “It gives you that flexibility, based on speed of court and rules of evidence; you’ll hire a lawyer and the lawyer will decide the best route to go.”