President Obama signed an Executive Order that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in federal hiring and for federal contractors and subcontractors. The Order requires that the US Department of Labor issues regulations to implement the order within 90 days. This Order takes effect immediately as to the hiring and employment provisions affecting over 2.5 million Federal employees. Contracts entered into on or after the regulations are promulgated by the Department of Labor must comply with the Order. Federal contractors will be required to maintain and/or amend hiring and employment policies against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Currently, there is no federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity that applies to all employers with 15 or more employees. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act ("ENDA") would extend existing federal law protections to LGBT employees and was approved by the Senate, but has stalled in the House of Representatives. 21 states (NH and MA included) and the District of Columbia have passed laws prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and 18 states (MA included) also prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.
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