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Pass the Pennsylvania fairness act

Pass the Pennsylvania fairness act

Our commonwealth should prohibit all forms of discrimination

After an unprecedented year of legislative wrangling and uncertainty, members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly now have an opportunity to advance an issue on which all members should be able to agree. Appropriately, the legislation is titled the Pennsylvania Fairness Act.

While difficult to believe, it is true that in 2016 in Pennsylvania it is legal to fire people from a job, deny them housing or refuse them  business services based entirely on the perception that the person is gay, lesbian or transgender.

The Dow Chemical Co. and The PNC Financial Services Group have joined a coalition of nearly 1,000 employers across the state to speak out in support of the Fairness Act because of its critical importance to economic advancement and the fair treatment of our fellow Pennsylvanians.

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The Fairness Act would include all Pennsylvanians under the human-relations law that governs discrimination policy so as to ensure the right to freedom from bias. It states that sexual orientation and gender identity or expression cannot be used as the basis of discrimination. The act would update a 1955 law that prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religious creed, ancestry, age or national origin.

The act reads, “Public policies reflecting an open and welcoming environment and ensuring equal opportunity foster economic growth and prosperity which benefit the inhabitants of this commonwealth. Conversely, the absence of non-discrimination protections hinder efforts to recruit and retain the diversity of talented individuals and successful enterprises required for a thriving economy and strong public sector on which the inhabitants of this commonwealth depend.”

These protections are basic and should be granted to all our fellow citizens. Updating the state’s 1955 human-rights law would address the reality of today’s workplaces, which focus on attracting a highly skilled workforce and advancing employees based on qualifications and performance, not based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.

Whether it is corporate human-resources managers trying to build effective workforces or small business owners managing the production and delivery of products or services, they can attest to their No. 1 priority — their employees. Without talented and dedicated employees, enterprises fail.

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The Pennsylvania Fairness Act is also about ensuring Pennsylvania’s economic competitiveness in the global marketplace. It is about providing an environment in which Pennsylvania employees know that their basic human rights are valued.

In discussing the importance of making Pennsylvania “a leader among states and a competitor among nations,” former Gov. Tom Ridge offered this endorsement of the Fairness Act: “The Fairness Act is about competition, it’s about fairness, it’s about doing the right thing.”

As employers, we have our own policies that embrace everyone and prohibit discrimination. Eighty-nine percent of Fortune 500 companies, including all 18 based in Pennsylvania, have policies prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and/​or gender identity, and more than 50 percent of Pennsylvania’s largest employers have nondiscrimination policies. The commonwealth of Pennsylvania has an anti-discrimination policy to ensure fair treatment of its more than 75,000 state workers. Many Pennsylvania municipalities also have passed nondiscrimination measures.

The Fairness Act has broad bipartisan support among more than 100 members of the General Assembly and is co-sponsored by Pat Browne, R-Allentown, and Larry Farnese, D-Philadelphia, in the Senate and by Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, and Tom Killion, R-Delaware County, in the House.

On behalf of hundreds of employers who represent thousands of employees, we call on Pennsylvanians to stand up for themselves and their colleagues by contacting their legislators to express support for the Pennsylvania Fairness Act. We also ask that the members of the General Assembly realize the importance of this legislation and pass House Bill 1510 and Senate Bill 974. Pennsylvania’s economic future depends on it.

Jane Palmieri is business president of Dow Building and Construction, part of The Dow Chemical Co. Marsha Jones is executive vice president and chief diversity officer for The PNC Financial Services Group.

First Published: March 10, 2016, 5:00 a.m.

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