From: kadie@cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: Re: Text of the CO Gay Discrimination Provisions Ammendment
Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Urbana, IL
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 02:05:33 GMT

josh@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (joshua.h.rosenbluth) writes:

[...]
>Finally, just because a trait (eye color, handedness, status as a
>student) is omitted in an anti-discrimination ordinance, does that give
>carte blanche to landlords to practice such discrimination?
[...]

Basically yes. If discrimination on some basis is not explicitly
prohibited, then it is allowed. A few states have changed this with
regard to employment, but the majority have not. I'm enclosing an
excerpt from ACLU paper.

- Carl

==================================================================
The largest group of forgotten people in this country consists of
non-unionized, private sector employees -- 80 percent of the American
workforce. Victims of the l9th century "employment-at-will doctrine,
they can be fired for any reason, or for no reason at all. They can be
subjected to tests and searches that are degrading and unrelated to
the work they were hired to perform. They can be punished for engaging
in legal activities in the privacy of their own homes.  Employees need
and deserve protection against such unfair and arbitrary denials of
their rights, which often leads to widespread human suffering.
Researchers have found a strong connection between job loss and
alcoholism, mental illness and even suicide.

==================================
| * In Pennsylvania, an employee was fired because he pointed out
|   serious safety defects in his employer's products. At least 200,000
|   Americans are unjustly fired every year.
|
| * In California, a job applicant was denied a job because he reused to
|   answer questions about his sex life on a "psychological test." At
|   least two million job applicants are required to take such tests ever
|   year.
|
| * In Indiana, a worker was fired because she smoked cigarettes in her
|   own home. At least 6,000 American companies now punish employees for
|   private behavior, such as drinking any alcohol or riding a motorcycle.
==================================

American institutions have, thus far, failed to address the problem of
workplace rights. The Bill of Rights does not apply to privately-owned
businesses, and our courts have been unwilling to offer legal
protection to private sector employees. While federal and state
legislation has addressed the problem of job discrimination based on
race, gender, religion and disability, other important issues like
privacy, free speech and due process have not been treated seriously.
Organized labor has traditionally been the chief defender of people's
rights at work. But the percentage of American workers represented by
unions has declined to only 16 percent, leaving the vast majority of
workers unprotected.

Although many employers argue that expanding legal rights in the workplace
would make American industry less competitive, the evidence shows
otherwise. The success of companies that have adopted enlightened
personnel policies confirms that people work more productively in
environments where their rights are respected.

American works need their own Bill of Rights that provides for freedom
of speech, the right to organize, the right to privacy, fair and equal
treatment and legal protection.
========================================================

ANNOTATED REFERENCES

(All these documents are available on-line. Access information follows.)

=================
civil-liberty/campaign-92.aclu
=================
* Campaign for the Bill of Rights '92 -- ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union's planks for its "Campaign for the
Bill of Rights '92". The planks are 1) a national campaign against
bigotry and racism, 2) constitutional protection for a woman's right
to choose, 3) a realistic approach to crime and punishment, 4) a Bill
of Rights for all working people.

=================
=================

If you have gopher, you can browse the CAF archive with the command
   gopher gopher.eff.org

These document(s) are also available by anonymous ftp (the preferred
method) and by email. To get the file(s) via ftp, do an anonymous ftp
to ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4), and get file(s):

  pub/academic/civil-liberty/campaign-92.aclu

To get the file(s) by email, send email to archive-server@eff.org.
Include the line(s) (be sure to include the space before the file
name):

send acad-freedom/civil-liberty campaign-92.aclu

-- 
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent any organization; this is just me.
 = kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =
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