Discrimination Affects Workplace Productivity

The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law released a report recently summarizing academic studies and other documented evidence of employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and the negative effect such discrimination has on LGBT people. This report also shows that LGBT people continue to frequently report discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

The report finds that evidence of employment discrimination against LGBT people has been consistently documented over the past 40 years in both the private and public sectors. In particular, it focuses on studies that have been conducted since 2005 and presents new data documenting discrimination from the 2008 General Social Survey (GSS), a national probability survey representative of the U.S. population.

Results from the 2008 GSS provided evidence of discrimination from one of very few national probability surveys about sexual orientation and workplace discrimination. Among LGB respondents to the survey, 42 percent had experienced employment discrimination at some point in their lives, and 27 percent had experienced employment discrimination just during the five-year period prior to the survey.

GSS data further show that employment discrimination is more common among LGB employees who are open about their sexual orientation in the workplace than among those who are not-38 percent of employees who are out in the workplace had experienced discrimination in the five year period prior to the survey, compared with 10 percent of those who are not out.

This new data shows that it's still risky to come out about being LGBT in the workplace," says study co-author Christy Mallory, a legal fellow. Therefore, it's not surprising that the GSS data also show that one-third of LGB employees are not open about their sexual orientation to anyone in the workplace.

These results are consistent with findings from other recent studies that reveal a continuing pattern of employment discrimination. In several studies from 2010 and 2011 that report data on transgender people separately, the rates of discrimination are even higher.

Recent studies show that pervasiveness of discrimination against transgender people in hiring proves have a devastating impact, says Williams Institute Executive Director Brad Sears. The devastating results of this discrimination are confirmed by the high rates of poverty and unemployment documented by surveys of the transgender community.

Not only does research document the pervasiveness of sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination, but also the negative impacts of discrimination on LGBT people. Because of discrimination, and fear of discrimination, many LGBT employees hide their identities, are paid less and have fewer employment opportunities than non-LGBT employees.

Research shows that LGBT employees who have experienced employment discrimination, or fear discrimination, have higher levels of psychological distress and health-related problems, less job satisfaction and higher rates of absenteeism, and are more likely to contemplate quitting than LGBT employees who have not experienced or do not fear discrimination, says Ilan Meyer, Williams Senior Scholar of Public Policy. In contrast, supervisor, coworker, and organizational support for LGB employees was found to have a positive impact on employees in terms of job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and outness at work.

The full report may be found at: http://www3.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/pdf/DiscriminationStudy-July2011.pdf.