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Jason & John
Citizen
Username: Johnh91011
Post Number: 56
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2003 - 8:47 pm: |     |
We just received the following from Lambda Legal which continually fights this kind of discrimination. We strongly believe that this kind of thing should not happen in this country in this age. Please sign the petition and tell your friends about it
----- Original Message -----
From: Lambda Legal eNews
To: Jason and John
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 10:02 PM
Subject: Fighting Anti-Gay Bias at One of America’s Largest Employers
Dear Jason and John,
Just this morning, Lambda Legal filed a groundbreaking lawsuit
against United Parcel Service, the nation's fourth-largest private
employer. I wanted to tell you about it and invite you to be among
the first to take action against UPS's anti-gay discrimination.
UPS has a corporate policy that lets employees transfer to work
in another city and avoid having their families broken apart when their
loved ones have job transfers. So when Daniel Kline, who has been
a well-regarded employee at UPS in San Francisco for more than 20
years, found out that his partner was being transferred to Chicago
because his employer's San Francisco office was closing, Daniel
applied for a transfer under UPS's policy and began preparing to
move. Daniel and his partner of 27 years, Frank Sories, have both
been with their employers for nearly their entire adult lives and are
both close to being eligible for pension and retirement benefits. But
after Daniel's transfer was approved at district and regional levels,
UPS's corporate headquarters rejected it because the men are gay
and therefore not legally married to each other.
Frank could only keep his job by moving to Chicago, so for the last
eight months he and Daniel have been living 2,000 miles apart, only
able to see each other on occasional weekends. "Even though it's
been eight months since we lived under the same roof, I'm still
surprised and disappointed every day that I come home from work
and he isn't there," says Daniel. "I know that I'm not truly home
unless he's with me."
Today, Daniel stood with Lambda Legal and fought back. We filed
a lawsuit in state court in California, arguing that UPS is violating
state laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation,
sex and marital status. We're also suing UPS for breach of
contract, since the company has policies promising its employees
protection against sexual orientation discrimination and assuring
them that they will be treated with fairness, dignity and respect.
We're taking on one of the largest companies in America to win
equal benefits for lesbian and gay couples and to give teeth to
corporate nondiscrimination policies.
Lambda Legal's case on behalf of Daniel and his partner stands to
help countless lesbian and gay employees nationwide who want to
protect their families through their job benefits and who deserve to
be treated equally when both the law and their employers' own
policies mandate it. If Daniel and Frank could legally marry, they
wouldn't be in this fight in the first place -- and Lambda Legal's
work for full marriage equality continues. At the same time,
people shouldn't have to get married to access these benefits and
have their families valued and respected. Lambda Legal's work is
to ensure that these benefits protect all employees and all families --
whether straight or gay.
As we move forward with our lawsuit against UPS, you can help.
Next week, Lambda Legal will launch a nationwide petition to
show UPS how important workplace fairness for LGBT
employees is to the public -- and its customers. We want the first
names on that petition to be Lambda Legal members who
understand better than anyone how important this is. The text of
the petition -- a simple five-sentence call for fairness -- is below.
To include your name in the first pages of the petition, please send
an e-mail to outreach@lambdalegal.org. To send the petition to
your family and friends, simply cut and paste the text below into
an e-mail. Together we can help make the workplace fairer for
LGBT employees.
Kevin Cathcart
Lambda Legal
Petition Lambda Legal is sending to UPS:
Although UPS claims to "value diversity" within its workforce, the
company only allows married employees to transfer to other UPS
offices when their loved ones relocate. We commend UPS for
recently adding a prohibition against sexual orientation
discrimination to the company's nondiscrimination policy, but it's
not enough. If UPS is serious about treating all of its employees
equally, then UPS policies must not discriminate. The UPS
transfer policy allows married employees to keep their benefits and
seniority, save money and keep their families together. Lesbian
and gay employees and their families deserve the same treatment.
To add your name to this petition, send an e-mail to
outreach@lambdalegal.org
For more information about the Lambda Legal lawsuit challenging
the UPS transfer policy visit www.lambdalegal.org
------
About Lambda Legal
For lesbians wanting to adopt, gay students who are openly
harassed, transgendered people who need to amend birth
certificates – and for so many others – Lambda Legal is pioneering
equal rights under the law. We are the oldest and largest legal
organization in the nation dedicated to the full recognition of the
civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendered people
and people with HIV and AIDS.
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Nohero
Citizen
Username: Nohero
Post Number: 1999
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2003 - 9:09 pm: | |
You know, lots of us are with businesses which have non-discrimination policies, and which also use UPS as a shipper. In addition to the individual petitions, are there any suggestions for how our firms can convey that they prefer to do business with other firms which live up to their non-discrimination policies? |
CFA
Citizen
Username: Cfa
Post Number: 960
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 22, 2003 - 4:51 am: | |
I know of an example that an openly gay H.R. Manager was transfered from the South into NYC. Another openly gay Manager transfered to South Florida last year. Why? Because that's where they were needed. On the flip side, I know of 3 people (straight and married) who requested a transfer and it was denied.
The only employees within UPS that are transfered are those employees in Management and then you are only transfered depending on the needs of the business.
When you give your intentions that you want to become a part of the management team, you have to sign a statement stating that you are available to re-locate.
I work for UPS and I know our policies inside and out and being a gay man, I know I wouldn't be transfered unless the needs of the business are where I want to go.
In all fairness to UPS, I can say first hand that it is an EXCELLENT company to work for. They are very into hiring minorities. There are numerous women who are Managers. The work that we do for communities is endless. We hire more people from welfare rolls than any other company. Check out www.ups.com sometime and read about the company. We wouldn't be around for 96 years (on the 28th) if we were a bad company. |
Jason & John
Citizen
Username: Johnh91011
Post Number: 57
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Friday, August 22, 2003 - 10:53 am: | |
UPS has a corporate policy that lets employees transfer to work
in another city and avoid having their families broken apart when their
loved ones have job transfers. So when Daniel Kline, who has been
a well-regarded employee at UPS in San Francisco for more than 20
years, found out that his partner was being transferred to Chicago
because his employer's San Francisco office was closing, Daniel
applied for a transfer under UPS's policy and began preparing to
move. Daniel and his partner of 27 years, Frank Sories, have both
been with their employers for nearly their entire adult lives and are
both close to being eligible for pension and retirement benefits. But
after Daniel's transfer was approved at district and regional levels,
UPS's corporate headquarters rejected it because the men are gay
and therefore not legally married to each other.)
CFA: this paragraph in the letter was key. Obviously UPS is a great company to work for otherwise Daniel Kline wouldn't have stayed with them as long as he had. However, why was the move approved by local and regional and overturned by corporate?.
Didn't mean to imply that UPS is not a great company but discrimination (if indeed this is discrimination at the corporate level) is just that
Jason and John |
nova87
Citizen
Username: Nova87
Post Number: 262
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 22, 2003 - 11:31 am: | |
J&J what is the exact wording of the "corporate policy"? Is it a written policy? And the sentence:"But after Daniel's transfer was approved at district and regional levels, UPS's corporate headquarters rejected it because the men are gay and therefore not legally married to each other." strikes me as odd. I wonder if there was a little editorial bias in the way that sentence was worded. I think the key is to know what the exact wording of the "policy" before any decision can be made about the validity of the lawsuit. |
CFA
Citizen
Username: Cfa
Post Number: 961
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, August 23, 2003 - 5:42 am: | |
I know for a fact that is NOT our corporate policy. It strikes me odd that the transfer was approved on the district and regional level, but as I said, our Corporate office is the one who transfers "based on the needs of the business."
Daniel Kline is an On-Car Supervisor, which means he supervises the drivers. They are rarely transfered. The only employees who are transfered, if any, are generally Managers and Division Managers. On-Car Supervisor is probably one of the most important jobs at UPS and they are definitely needed where they are.
I'm not saying UPS is perfect. Would I love it if UPS offered health benefits to domestic partners? Hell yes!!!! We (gay/lesbians) have come a long way. The world can't change overnight.
I'll get the exact wording from our policy book and post it when I find it. For Daniel's sake, I hope his lawyer had good evidence because UPS rarely is sued and when they are, they rarely lose. They do run the "tightest ship in the shipping business."
I just found this in our policy book:
We treat each individual fairly, and recruit, select, train, promote, and compensate based on merit, experience, and other work-related criteria. We comply with all laws governing fair employment and labor practices and we do not discriminate against any applicant for employment or any employee in any aspect of his or her employment at UPS because of age, race, religion, sex, disability, sexual orientation, military status, pregnancy, national origin, or veteran status.
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Jason & John
Citizen
Username: Johnh91011
Post Number: 58
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Monday, August 25, 2003 - 11:12 am: | |
http://www.hrc.org/worknet/workalert/2003/0608/article08.asp
I just found out yesterday that UPS has reversed its decision. Lambda Legal's website does not have the update. Human Rights Campaign's website does. I am a little mad at Lambda for not updating us after getting us to "sign" the petition etc. |
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