Democratic Women’s Caucus Opposes Department of Labor’s Proposed Rule Allowing Federal Contractors to Discriminate
Washington,
October 4, 2019
Washington, DC – Today, Co-Chairs of the Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) Representatives Lois Frankel (FL-21), Brenda L. Lawrence (MI-14), Jackie Speier (CA-14), and Vice Chairs Representatives Veronica Escobar (TX-16) and Deb Haaland (NM-01) were joined by 49 colleagues in sending a letter to the Department of Labor expressing opposition to the Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ proposed rule entitled, “Implementing Legal Requirements Regarding the Equal Opportunity Clause’s Religious Exemption.”
The Democratic Women’s Caucus letter states that “The proposed rule would embolden discrimination against women and LGBTQ individuals by allowing federal contractors to use taxpayer dollars to subsidize discrimination, as well as use their religious beliefs to engage in otherwise unlawful behavior.” Members continued to note that “In addition, the proposed rule would allow employers to refuse to hire women, or discriminate in pay, benefits, or working conditions, based on a religious belief that women should not work outside the home, or that women should not be alone with men to whom they are not married. The proposed rule would turn back the clock on decades of long-standing anti-discrimination law, setting our country back, and threatening women’s and LGBTQ people’s ability to obtain and maintain employment.”
The full text of the letter can be found here.
### |