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Testimony: Anti-gay bias persists in government workplaces

Workplace discrimination for LGBT employees is just as common in state and local governments as in the private sector, according to testimony delivered in Congress today.

Brad Sears, executive director of the Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law & Public Policy, made the observations as part of hearing on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009. He cited a study — the most comprehensive to date, according to the Williams Institute — that reviewed discrimination against LGBT people in the public sector.

A few other findings:

* One in five LGBT public sector employees has experienced workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation according to a 2008 study; a 2009 study found that 13% had reported such discrimination in the past year alone.

* A persistent and significant wage gap exists between heterosexual and LGBT employees. For example, government LGBT employees earn wages that are 8-29% lower than their heterosexual counterparts.

“This is exactly the kind of data that was presented to support passage of earlier civil rights legislation,” Sears said in a prepared statement, “and Congress should act now to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.”

For more on today’s hearing, see this AP news article.

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Video: Two recent TV clips about job market

I am testing to see if I can embed this clip here…

Prepare for turbulence!

The news about big airline mergers — Delta and Northwest, and possibly United and Continental — raises many issues for travelers. But what about employees?

All the companies mentioned above are very large, with tens of thousands of employees. Mergers of that magnitude pose several challenges, and the affected employees will face a period of major uncertainty and stress. It could easily happen to you — even if you don’t work in the airline industry.

In any merger of companies, employees can take some steps to survive the culture shock, as this recent article points out. Prepare to be flexible and patient!

Layoffs can also be an unpleasant cloud looming on the merger horizon. If you are facing this situation, you can take steps to protect yourself from a layoff and possibly save your job.

Other relevant articles to check out:

• What ‘right-sizing’ means to your career
  
• How job anxiety can help you succeed
• Job-hunting in an unsteady economy

Managing multiple interviews

There is a pretty good article in this morning’s San Francisco Chronicle about how to handle meeting with multiple interviewers as part of a job interview.  This scenario is pretty common, so it’s good to prepare to meet not only with a hiring manager but also potential teammates.

Read the full article here.

Please bear with me…

I am trying to fix some look & feel issues, so there may not be more posts for a few days.  This DIY stuff takes time!

Blogging as a career

Interesting article in today’s SF Chronicle about how blogging has emerged as a possible career for some savvy entrepreneurs.

More and more journalists are getting into blogging, particularly as newspapers downsize. But it’s also interesting to me that more and more journalists in “traditional media” are starting blogs that supplement their print/broadcast work.

As a journalist, I think it’s important for me to familiarize myself with the process of blogging. I’m a bit of a johnny-come-lately to the blogging party, but it seems latecomers are still welcome. This blog is in fact part of my career development, so let the roller-coaster ride begin.

Getting my feet wet

This is me virtually dipping my toes into the world of blogging.  My name is Tom Musbach, and I am the managing editor of Yahoo! HotJobs.

This blog is a chance to expand my coverage of the career beat, and I hope to add notes, highlight trends and advice, and share views. The topic is broad, and this will be an adventure.