Mr. Elliott L. Wheelan, Director
DC Office of Personnel
441 4th Street, N.W.
Suite 300 South
Washington, D.C. 20001
Dear Mr. Wheelan:
I am writing to ask your office to ensure that everyone applying for employment with the District government is made aware of the full range of anti-discrimination protections provided by the D.C. Human Rights Law of 1977.
We have recently been in contact with the Human Resources section of the Metropolitan Police Department, until recently headed by Assistant Chief Sonya Proctor (who has now moved on to a new assignment, as you may have heard). Chief Proctor's office sent us a copy of the application form that anyone seeking employment with the MPD must complete. We wanted to see whether the Equal Employment Opportunity policy statement on this form listed all categories protected by the District's Human Rights Law — including sexual orientation. To our surprise, we saw that this form — which Chief Proctor's office told us was a standard form used by all District government agencies — includes no EEO policy statement of any kind.
This oversight resurrects an issue we thought had been settled many years ago.
The D.C. Human Rights Law of 1977 is one of the strongest anti-discrimination laws in the country — far tougher and more inclusive than the employment protections provided under federal civil rights laws such as Title VII. Accordingly, the District enjoys a competitive advantage over those jurisdictions that do not bar arbitrary discrimination against gay men and lesbians (not to mention members of other classes protected under D.C. law but not under federal or other local laws). Gay women and men applying for District government employment will not ordinarily know that they are protected under our laws unless they are expressly informed, orally and/or in writing. A boilerplate phrase such as "The District government is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer" will not suffice, precisely because our anti-discrimination law is so much stronger than federal civil rights laws.
Therefore, we are asking that, first, the standard employment application form for District agencies be revised to include a comprehensive EEO policy statement that explicitly lists each of the 13 categories protected by the D.C. Human Rights Law, and second, that until such time as the standard form can be overhauled, anyone applying for District government employment will be given an information sheet that includes such an EEO policy statement.
Early in his first Administration, Mayor Barry — at the urging of this organization — issued an Executive Order commanding that all District government EEO policy statements list all categories protected under the D.C. Human Rights Law. That order remains in effect to this day and is universally followed. We think the same spirit should dictate that such an EEO policy statement be included in the District's standard employment application form. By the same token, all District agencies should circulate a memorandum each year to all their employees reminding them of the full reach of the District's Human Rights Law.
If you have any questions, please call us on (202) 667-5139. Thank you for your interest and cooperation.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Rosendall
President
Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, DC
cc: Mayor Marion Barry
MPD Chief Sonya Proctor
Gerald Draper, Department of Human Rights & Local Business Development
The Honorable Kathy Patterson, Committee on Government Operations
The Washington Blade