Kentucky Commission on Human Rights

Kentucky Commission on Human Rights Commissioners Samuel Coleman of Middlesboro, Ky., (left) and Tim W. Thomas of Madisonville, Ky., (right) attended the National Fair Housing Conference in Washington D.C. It was held during the 50th anniversary of the signing of the United State Fair Housing Act by President Lyndon Johnson. Over 500 delegates from across the nation attended.

Kentucky Human Rights Commissioner Timothy Thomas receives Civic Leader Award

Thomas Receives Ky. Civic Leader Award | SurfKY News Thomas Receives Ky. Civic Leader Award, read more at

Kentucky Civil Rights leader Tom Moffett dies at age 94

Civil rights leader Tom Moffett dies at age 94 The outspoken activist had been an advocate for social justice since the 1960s.

Mine Rite Technologies To Pay $75,000 To Settle EEOC Disability Suit
March 23, 2018
Mine Rite Technologies, LLC, a Buffalo, Wyo.-based manufacturing company, will pay $75,000 and provide other significant relief to settle a disability discrimination and harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

Mine Rite Technologies to Pay $75,000  To Settle EEOC Disability Suit PHOENIX - Mine Rite Technologies, LLC, a Buffalo, Wyo.-based manufacturing company, will pay $75,000 and provide other significant relief to settle a disability discrimination and harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

Background Checks

‘Ban The Box’ Is It Working?
The Daily Courier, March 25, 2018
In November, Arizona joined more than two dozen other states in giving convicted felons a better shot at getting a job. In an executive order, Gov. Doug Ducey directed state personnel officials to “ban the box,” deleting questions on initial job applications about whether a person has a criminal record. The topic can still come up, but, Ducey said, at least the applicant will not be dismissed as easily. “This is to allow people that have paid their debt to society, who have served their time, to have some hope of a job or a career or an opportunity,” Ducey said. Twenty-nine state governments have similar policies, and, of those, nine states even make it illegal for private employers to ask the question.

‘Ban the Box’ Is it working? In November, Arizona joined more than two dozen other states in giving convicted felons a better shot at getting a job.

LGBT

Transgender Workers Gain New Protection Under Court Ruling
NY Times, March 24, 2018
Employers are moving to adopt or strengthen policies to prevent bias against transgender people after the latest in a series of court rulings that have extended protections for an increasingly diverse workforce. A federal appeals court, rejecting the position of the Trump administration, ruled this month that transgender people are protected by a civil rights law that bans workplace discrimination based on s*x. Lawyers who specialize in employment cases said that the decision, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, was highly significant. The court held that job discrimination on the basis of transgender status was inherently s*x discrimination and that the employer, in this case, could not claim an exemption from the law because of his religious beliefs.

Transgender Workers Gain New Protection Under Court Ruling Federal judges say that employers cannot legally discriminate against employees transitioning from one s*x to the other.

Pregnancy

Fidelity Must Face Trial On Some Job Bias Claims By New Mom
Bloomberg BNA, March 23, 2018
A former regional vice president who says Fidelity Investments withdrew a promised promotion after she announced she was pregnant and that she was forced to quit after she returned to work following pregnancy leave may take some of her claims to trial, a federal judge ruled. The March 22 decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island illustrates that the standard for dismissing parts or all of a case pretrial can vary from court to court. In the District of Rhode Island, summary judgment—a type of pretrial dismissal—"is a drastic remedy,” the court said. Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Co. didn't challenge Jennifer McElroy's contention that she established a prima facie case of gender bias in her failure to get promoted in the fall of 2012, the court said. According to McElroy, her supervisor had told her she would receive a new title and $50,000 salary bump with the promotion, which was supposed to occur as part of the multinational financial services provider's year-end promotional cycle.

Equal Pay

Starbucks Has Closed Its Pay Gap In The US—Here Are 4 Other Companies That Have Done The Same
CNBC, March 23, 2018
Starbucks has achieved 100 percent equal pay for its U.S. employees of all races and genders and is working "with deliberate speed" to do the same globally, the coffee company announced on Wednesday. It took the company 10 years. As Starbucks continues to thrive with a workforce that is now compensated more fairly, here are four other companies that say they have also made equal pay a reality.

Starbucks has closed its pay gap in the US—here are 4 other companies that have done the same The coffee chain is leading the way, as are these other employers.

Sexual Harassment
The Movement Hits The Medical Field
Chicago Tribune, March 25, 2018
Annette Katz didn't expect to be part of a major social movement. She didn't set out to take on a major health organization. But that all began to change when a co-worker saw her fighting back tears and joined Katz to report to her union what amounted to a criminal s*xual offense at a Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center in 2012 and 2013. Four years later, Katz, a licensed practical nurse at the hospital, testified in a deposition that a male nursing assistant had shoved her into a linen closet and groped her and subjected her to an onslaught of lewd comments. In speaking out and taking legal action, Katz joined a growing group of women who are combating s*xual harassment in the medical field at every level, from patients' bedsides to the executive boardroom.

The #MeToo movement hits the medical field The moment is prompting women in medicine to take on a system where hierarchies are ever-present and all-commanding.

For your information: Thursday, March 29, 3:45 p.m., in Louisville, Kentucky: A Discussion by Louisville Center Community Centers, Inter-denominational Ministerial Coalition, Concerned Pastors of Russell, Simmons College & others
“The Greatest Mile” Community Dialogue on Economic Transformation & Gentrification
http://files.constantcontact.com/9113286d001/09a1b974-32a5-47c6-8cd2-d4544d4a2cbe.pdf