Obama Labor Department May Be Ignoring Protections For Transgender Contractors
Chris Geidner
BuzzFeed Staff
Posted Jul 27, 2012 8:53am EDT

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/obama-labor-department-may-be-ignoring-protections

The Department of Labor may not be enforcing protections for transgender employees of federal contractors — despite a three-month-old ruling by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that should be applied to such workers under current Labor policies.

According to an investigation by BuzzFeed, in the past month alone the federal government has granted hundreds of millions of dollars of contracts subject to the Labor Department's oversight with companies that have not put in place rules protecting workers from discrimination based on gender identity.

Although employees of federal contractors aren't covered directly by the EEOC's ruling on Title VII, they are protected from discrimination based on Executive Order 11246, which was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Freedom to Work's Almeida pointed out..."it is not yet clear that the Labor Department's approximately 800 investigators who enforce Executive Order 11246 have been given the same kind of notice, training, and guidance regarding their expanded jurisdiction to protect transgender Americans from discrimination by federal contractors."