Social Security, union clash over sexual orientation contract provisions

Social Security Administration officials are trying to remove language protecting employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation from the agency's labor contract, union leaders claim.

During negotiations on renewing the contract, SSA officials proposed eliminating a clause that allows gay, lesbian and bisexual workers to file discrimination grievances, said Witold Skwierczynski, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 220.

AFGE officials convinced SSA to add the language to the contract during 2000 negotiations, after President Clinton issued an executive order establishing a uniform policy protecting federal employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The union hasn't had to re-negotiate the terms of the contract until now. "I'm not aware of President Bush revoking that executive order," Skwierczynski said.

Agency negotiators claim there is no law protecting gay, lesbian and bisexual federal employees from discrimination, Skwierczynski said. "This executive order does not confer any right or benefit enforceable in law," the 2000 Clinton directive states.

SSA "does not and will not discriminate against employees for any reason," said Mark Lassiter, a spokesman. He declined to comment on the ongoing negotiations.

But union officials see the agency's attempt to revoke the protections as a move to reverse a longstanding antidiscrimination policy. "This administration is now attempting to permit discrimination against lesbians, gays and bisexuals by removing protections from union contracts," said Andrea Brooks, AFGE's national vice president for women's and fair practices.

Even if Clinton's 2000 executive order doesn't confer legal safeguards, a federal law prohibiting discrimination based on behavior outside the office has long been interpreted as protecting government workers against discrimination based on sexual orientation, said Rob Sadler, a spokesman for Federal GLOBE, a support group for gay, lesbian and bisexual employees.

AFGE and SSA began negotiations in May, and plan to finish up discussions in November. If union and agency officials cannot reach an agreement on the anti-discrimination clause by then, the union plans to file a complaint with the Federal Service Impasses Panel, Skwierczynski said.

The union hopes that SSA will back down if John Kerry wins the November presidential election, Skwierczynski added.

The National Treasury Employees Union has yet to encounter any similar problems in negotiating contracts, but is keeping an eye out, said Colleen Kelley, the union's president. She added that she wouldn't be surprised if other agencies attempt to scale back protections for gay, lesbian and bisexual employees given the "confusion" the Office of Special Counsel recently caused by re-evaluating its policy on complaints of discrimination based on sexual orientation.

OSC, an independent agency responsible for handling complaints of discrimination against federal employees, earlier this year sparked an outcry by undertaking a review of policies on accepting cases alleging unfair treatment of gay, lesbian and bisexual employees. Special Counsel Scott Bloch said the evaluation simply was part of a larger policy review he initiated shortly after taking office.

In April 2004, Bloch announced that a team of legal experts has decided OSC should continue to accept complaints of discrimination based on sexual orientation. But Kelley said she feels the announcement wasn't clear enough.

"We figured we hadn't heard the last of it," Kelley said. "It took us two letters to get [OSC to reinstate the protections]."

Sadler of Federal GLOBE said he hasn't heard about SSA officials' desire to remove the contract clause. But he added that the move wouldn't surprise him. Several agencies are replacing specific anti-discrimination language with vague wording, he said.

For example, the Labor Department altered its harassment policy in the past year and replaced a section explicitly banning harassment based on sexual orientation with a clause forbidding managers from harassing employees "on a basis which is protected by law," Sadler said.

Such changes end up confusing employees and "muddy the waters a little bit in terms of what's being protected," Sadler said. "People without legal training get worried when [agencies] start taking out lists of protected classes."

The disagreement over the anti-discrimination provision is one of several disputes in the negotiation of the SSA contract. Union officials also are concerned about agency proposals regarding flex time, emergency leave and office safety, Skwierczynski said. The agency would like to reserve the right to cancel all flex time, deny emergency leave requests and bar union officials from participating in safety inspections, he noted.

SSA would also like to impose a dress code on employees, Skwierczynski said. The suggested policy would require workers to don "professional attire," leaving the definition of "professional" up to "local managers' interpretation," he said.