Consider the following scenarios:

• An applicant is told by an interviewer that the Company does not hire gay employees.
• An employee is terminated after his boss discovers that he is gay and tells the employee that he does not want to work with gay employees.
• An employee is repeatedly subject to verbal harassment and derogatory comments because she is gay. 

Incredibly, federal law, such as Title VII, does not prohibit discrimination or harassment on the basis of sexual orientation.  Under the circumstances above, there would be no federal cause of action.

Many states have no laws prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination. However, discrimination or harassment on the basis of sexual orientation is prohibited in Illinois by the Illinois Human Rights Act (“IHRA”).  Under HB 1509, an amendment to the IHRA which Governor Blagojevich recently signed into law, plaintiffs can file discrimination, harassment, and retaliation cases directly in state court. 

Caffarelli & Siegel has already successfully represented gay clients before the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the Chicago Commission on Human Relations and in severance negotiations.  We look forward to broadening our scope of representation by filing sexual orientation cases in state court. 

If you have questions about the IHRA, or if you believe you have been discriminated against, harassed, or retaliated against because of your sexual orientation, contact Caffarelli & Siegel Ltd. to speak to a Chicago Employment lawyer.