Sex-orientation rules in place, firms in state say

Several Arkansas companies that hold federal contracts or that have provided services to the government say they will review their employment policies in light of an order signed Monday by President Barack Obama protecting the employment of gay and transgender employees.

The companies say they already have employment policies that bar discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

"We will review the executive order, but sexual orientation is already included in our policy," said David Avery, spokesman for Windstream Holdings Inc. in an email.

During fiscal year 2013, Windstream and its subsidiaries received 155 contracts and more than $1.4 million from the federal government, according to USASpending.gov.

Lockheed Martin, a large federal contractor that employs more than 650 at its facility in Camden where it produces missile and artillery systems for the U.S. Army, said it also will review the order.

"Lockheed Martin prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression and we are committed to a work environment that promotes equality," said Donna Savarese, spokesman for the Maryland-based security and aerospace company in an email. "We will assess the implications of the President's Executive Order when the Department of Labor issues its final implementation regulations."

The order, which was signed by the president on Monday, added sexual orientation and gender identify to the list of employment protections -- race, religion, gender and nationality -- established in an order by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 for federal contractors.

Johnson's order was also amended in 2002 by President George W. Bush who added an exemption for religious groups.

Obama's order also adds gender identity to the list of protected employment categories for federal employees ordered by President Richard Nixon. President Bill Clinton previously added sexual orientation to the protections.

The president's order will give companies a bigger pool of talent to pull from when hiring new employees, said Christy Mallory, senior counsel at the Williams Institute, a think tank that researches sexual orientation and gender identity law and policy at the University of California at Los Angeles.

"In line with those expectations, we can basically see it will increase the number of people these companies can draw from," she said. "We don't expect any negative impact on businesses."

But some say the executive order will affect religious organizations that have contracts with the federal government.

For some organizations, the steps that will need to be taken to keep federal contracts will "violate their beliefs in this area," said Travis Weber, director for the Center of Religious Liberty at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C.

He said many companies already have employment protections in place.

This includes, Acxiom Corp. and Tyson Foods Inc., which have held government contracts. Both companies said before the order was signed by Obama that they do not discriminate in the workplace.

"At Tyson Foods, we promote a workplace that is free from discrimination," said Dan Fogleman, spokesman for the company. "Among other things, our existing policies prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and 'any other protected status under the federal, state or local law.'"

Jena Compton, Acxiom's senior vice president for human resources, said in an statement emailed by a spokesman that "Acxiom has been among the first companies in Arkansas to offer benefits to same sex, domestic partners."

Information for this article was contributed by Brian Fanney of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Business on 07/26/2014

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