skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Fighting Discrimination in NV, by Law and by Choice

play audio
Play

Friday, August 24, 2012   

LAS VEGAS - Some Nevada firms are "top of the class" for their workplace anti-discrimination policies.

The Equity Forum has released its Fortune 500 Non-Discrimination Project, and found that a record 479 companies are compliant, or voluntarily include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies.

Two big casino corporations are among them: Harrah's Entertainment and MGM Mirage.

Nevada also has state laws to protect workers against this type of discrimination. But in most places, according to Malcom Lazin, Equality Forum executive director, that still isn't the case.

"In most states, there is no protection - so literally, one can be fired simply because of their status of being gay or lesbian, bisexual or transgender, without any reference whatsoever to any misconduct of any sort."

Since his group announced the survey results last week, Lazin says, two more companies have added protections for LGBT workers to their rules. That brings the total to just about 95 percent. When they started the survey eight years ago, he says, only about two-thirds of companies had these policies in writing.

Lazin hopes the survey raises questions in the presidential race as well. Of the candidates and their running mates, he says Gov. Mitt Romney is the only one who has not voiced support for changing the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act to include LGBT workers.

"If he believes that there should not be discrimination in the workplace, then why should not that include, specifically, sexual orientation and gender identity as it includes virtually every other possible category?"

Lazin says a number of the Fortune 500 companies have offered to testify in favor of amending the federal law - a bipartisan effort which, so far, has been stuck in Congress.

The full study is online at equalityforum.com/fortune500.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021