Obama Administration and Discrimination
NY Times reports today on the Obama administration being set to introduce a bill relaxing the statute of limitations on employee's suing for discrimination. The bill stems from the Lilly Ledbetter case. Ms. Ledbetter sued her employer, Goodyear tire, after finding out that she had routinely been denied equitable pay raises with male counterparts. The supreme court ruled against her on the basis of the statute of limitations having run out, despite the fact that Ms. Ledbetter had not known of the discrepancy within the statute of limitation time period.
Justices' Ruling in Discrimination may Draw Quick Action by Obama
Don't Ask/Don't Tell
This editorial is primarily looking at the Obama administration's approach to changing the policy--that is taking a more gradual approach and trying to win over the military--as a good thing, especially in contrast to the Clinton administration. I'm inclined to agree at this point--I generally like the pragmatic approach.
Don't Ask/Don't Tell
I'm beginning to think that the pragmatic is looking more like playing politics--especially given the recent Justice Department stand in the DOMA case--that the administration is supporting discriminatory policies because of fear of how social conservatives will represent something like the overturning of Don't Ask/Don't Tell. The NPR program "Fresh Air" had an excellent program the other day in which historian Nathanial Frank presented his arguments against the policy. One of the fallacies of the policy that I hadn't heard mentioned before is that our service men and women are already serving alongside of openly gay members of the military, including openly gay commanders, in any kind of operation which involves multinational forces (because those forces, like Canada's or like Britain's, have openly gay personnel).
Interview with Nathanial Frank
Related Interview with Alex Nicholson, founder of Servicemembers United.
Update
After the President reiterated his position to repeal the Don't Ask/Don't Tell Policy in the State of the Union Address, the Pentagon looks ready to address repealing the policy:
Pentagon ready to offer input on repealing military's ban on gays
Update: the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
This article mentions both Obama's signing into law of the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and where things stand currently with the Employee Free Choice Act.
Test for American Labor