Pennsylvania law allows arbitrary firing for irrelevant reasons: Editorial
Patriot-News Editorial Board, August 09, 2013, 12:59 PM
http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/08/lgbt_pennsylvanians_need_anti-discrimination_protection.htmlTwenty years ago, Dan Miller was fired from an accounting firm, a job where his boss agreed he was doing good work, just because he was gay. It was legal at the time under Pennsylvania state law.
Today, Miller, now Harrisburg City Controller, says, "nothing has changed, not in Pennsylvania." State law still allows that kind of arbitrary firing.
Miller's case made national news at the time because the firing was so blatant. His boss didn't concoct a cover story about poor job performance. He didn't offer any other pretext – he didn't have to. He simply fired Miller just because he was gay.
When some clients followed Miller out the door to his new practice, the man who fired him wrote them letters suggesting they get Miller tested for AIDS. Even worse, the man sued Miller for breaching a no-competition agreement. Instead of having a legal claim for being unjustly fired, Miller ultimately got socked with a court judgment for $126,648...
Bad as it is for gays in the state, transgender Pennsylvanians have it much worse.
