'Tax equity' sought for Palm Beach County employees with unmarried partners

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/palm-politics-blog/sfl-tax-equity-county-unmarried-partners-20130617,0,4560071.story

'Tax equity' sought for county employees with unmarried partners

By Andy Reid
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

June 17, 2013

Gay, lesbian and other unmarried Palm Beach County employees should not have to pay more than their married co-workers to receive taxpayer-backed health benefits for their domestic partners, according to County Commissioner Mary Lou Berger.

Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary Lou Berger wants the commission to consider paying to cover increased healthcare tax costs charged to unmarried employees with registered domestic partners. (Matt Dean / FPG / December 18, 2011)

Berger at the commission's July 2 meeting plans to ask her fellow commissioners to consider paying to cover the increased tax costs of medical benefits for employees with domestic partners.

The county in 2005 agreed to extend benefits to the unmarried domestic partners of county employees. But because the federal government doesn't equate an unmarried partner to a spouse, those employees end up paying taxes on those benefits.

Berger wants to explore enacting the "tax equity" proposal, backed the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, which calls for local governments to cover those tax costs for their unmarried employees with registered domestic partners.

It's not fair for employees with domestic partners to have to pay more than their married co-workers, Berger said.

"I believe in equality for everyone," Berger said. "We are all equal."

The cost implications of the new policy are one of the issues that must still be determined, Berger said.

Last year the county only had 55 employees with registered domestic partners.

To qualify a domestic partner for benefits, an employee must provide proof that can include a shared deed or lease; driver's licenses showing a common address; wills listing each other as beneficiaries; and joint credit card accounts.

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council for years has been pushing local governments to expand employee benefits for domestic partners.

"This is not a gay issue. This is a pay issue," Palm Beach County Human Rights Council President Rand Hoch said in a statement issued Monday.    

PBCHRC - Pride Update - June 2013

June 2013

Across the county and around the globe, LGBT Pride is being celebrated this month.

Here in Palm Beach County we have many reasons to take pride in our LGBT community.

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council marks its  25th anniversary in 2013. Since 1988, local activists – all volunteers -- have been interviewing candidates for public office, making endorsements, educating public officials and taking action with the sole purpose of changing laws and policies to provide equal treatment and equal benefits for the local LGBT community.

To see our remarkable successes, check out the "Palm Beach County (Florida) LGBT History Timeline (Updated 6/10/13)"on the blog.

PBCHRC’s 25th Anniversary Celebration began on May 1 with a fabulous event sponsored by the Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach, featuring openly gay poet Richard Blanco. Kudos go out to Victor Figueredo and everyone at the Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach, who organized this evening.

The 25th Anniversary celebrations continue on Friday evening, August 2, with a special performance of William Randall Beard’s musical Beyond the Rainbow, sponsored by The Arts Garage in Delray Beach. The show about Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall features two dozen of Garland’s greatest hits, including “Get Happy,” “That’s Entertainment,” “The Trolley Song” and of course, “Over the Rainbow.” Ticket information will be sent out shortly, but in the interim, please save the date for an incredible evening of fun and superb entertainment.

Something very special is being planned for our main 25th Anniversary event later this Fall. Co-Chairs Victor Figueredo and Ross W. W. Meltzer – and an amazing committee of volunteers – will fill us in on the details very shortly. Truly, it will be a night to remember.

Within days, the U.S. Supreme Court will be issuing two rulings on cases involving recognition of lesbian and gay relationships. As a retired judge, I can assure you that it is always a mistake to predict how a court will rule. That being said, I am optimistic the rulings will help at least some laws across the country catch up with public opinion which increasingly supports legal recognition of our relationships.

Since the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council does not take a “wait and see” position when it comes to moving forward in securing equal rights and benefits for our community, we have been extremely busy this year, working on non-discrimination policies and domestic partnership benefits at the local level, especially in the cities of West Palm Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Palm Beach Gardens, as well in the town of Palm Beach. Last December, PBCHRC renewed its efforts in the town of Palm Beach concerning the full range of domestic partnership benefits for town employees. In March, the town manager informed PBCHRC that an insurance consultant had been hired to assist the town on insurance matters, including offering health insurance to the domestic partners of town employees. PBCHRC is very optimistic that by year’s end the town of Palm Beach will join the ever-growing list of local public employers offering equal benefits to their LGBT employees.

In late April, West Palm Beach became the first city in Florida - and only the second city in the nation – to implement a tax equity policy to reimburse municipal employees insuring their domestic partners for the full amount of the additional federal income taxes which are assessed on employees whose domestic partners receive health insurance through their employers. As a result, the city of West Palm Beach leads the nation on domestic partnership benefits.

County Commissioner Mary Lou Berger, school board member Karen Brill and Port of Palm Beach Commissioner Wayne Richards have all been working on urging their colleagues to implement a tax equity policies at their  workplaces as well.

In Delray Beach, the new mayor, Cary Glickstein, and new City Manager Louie Chapman Jr. acted promptly on PBCHRC’s request to update the city’s administrative policy against discrimination, harassment and bullying to include both “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression.”

In sharp contrast, the city managers in Boca Raton and Palm Beach Gardens continue to resist efforts to provide equal rights and benefits for their LGBT employees. While PBCHRC has been aggressively working in Boca Raton since last September, its work in Palm Beach Gardens is just gearing up.

In February, the Boca Raton Community Relations Board unanimously adopted a resolution recommending that the city council add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” to its jurisdiction. City Manager Leif Ahnell refused to ask the city council to vote on the CRB’s recommendation.

Since last September, City Manager Ahnell and City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser have managed to stymie all efforts to bring Boca Raton into the 21st century regarding the treatment of its LGBT employees, despite the clear message sent by four of the five city council members at a public hearing held last November to promptly take action.

Hopefully, some prodding from PBCHRC, including our “Boca Bigots Run City Hall” campaign will help turn the tide.

Our goals are to have the City of Boca Raton:

●    expand the jurisdiction of the Boca Raton Community Relations Board to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression”;

●    revise all city nondiscrimination policies to prohibit discrimination based on “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression”;

●    provide the full range of domestic partnership benefits to Boca Raton municipal employees;

●    and rescind Boca Raton City Ordinance No 5161, which allowed the city of Boca Raton to strip its municipal employees of all avenues of legal recourse in cases of employment discrimination based on “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression."

Although Boca Raton Deputy Mayor Susan Haynie and city council member Constance Scott appear to be sympathetic to PBCHRC’s goals for equal treatment and benefits for the city’s employees, neither has taken the action necessary to further our goals (i.e., formally asking the city council to direct city staff to take action). PBCHRC continues to be vigilant on its efforts on behalf of Boca Raton’s LGBT employees.
  
In other matters:

●    West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio appoints Robert Telford, a broadcast coordinator for the City's television station, as the Mayor's Liaison to the City's LGBT community.

●    PBCHRC Vice President Jess Blackman is working with the Florida Bar on an continuing legal education seminar on marriage equality to be held on June 28 in (of all places) Boca Raton!

●    PBCHRC assisted Scouts for Equality with their successful petition drive to help convince the Boy Scouts of America to drop the ban on gay scouts.

●    Boynton Beach Community Relations Board Member Ben Lowe has asked PBCHRC to draft the Boynton Beach Civil Rights Act to be considered by the city’s CRB.

●    Florida Atlantic University and the United Faculty of Florida have reached a tentative  agreement concerning limited domestic partnership benefits for university employees; however, the agreement is subject to ratification of the entire collective bargaining agreement.  Additionally, the university is considering the addition of "gender identity and expression" to its nondiscrimination regulations.

●    Jess Blackman and PBCHRC Vice President Secretary Rae Franks are working with Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock to urge the county commissioners to eliminate the existing inequities in the county’s domestic partnership ordinance.

●    PBCHRC board members Hutch Floyd and Matthew McWatters are in the in the early stages of work on LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination policies and domestic partnership benefits in Greenacres City.

●    Board Member J.P. Sasser is working as our liaison to the Area Agency on Aging’s LGBT Task Force to improve the lives of Palm Beach County’s LGBT seniors.

●    PBCHRC board members (and former PBCHRC President) Jamie Foreman is working to develop a training program for the judges serving in Palm Beach County to assist them in dealing more effectively with members of the LGBT community.

The Council’s updated website (pbchrc.org) has proven to be very popular. It is fully accessible on Apple mobile devices and has many new features, including links to our Facebook page (PBCHRC) and our Twitter account (PBCHRC). Please use the links to follow us on both Facebook and Twitter.

As you can see, much work remains to be done and we greatly appreciate your support in our endeavors.

Rest assured, we will continue to keep you posted.

Rand Hoch
President and Founder

PBCHRC Asks Palm Beach Gardens to Offer Domestic Partner Benefits

Advocate Asks South Florida City Leaders to Offer Domestic Partner Benefits for LGBT Employees

South Florida Gay News

Written by Dylan Bouscher
February 19, 2013 

Jessica Blackman wrote a Valentine's Day letter to the Palm Beach Gardens city council. She didn't ask them out - she asked the council to "offer identical family benefits to all of its employees."

According to the Human Rights Campaign, "When employees elect health insurance coverage from their employers for their families, the majority of their employers contribute to at least half of the insurance coverage's cost. For employees with different-sex spouses, federal and state tax law do not require employers to report their contribution to the employee's or the employee's different-sex spouse as taxable wages earned."

Employees with same-sex partners or spouses, on the other hand, must report their employer's contribution as taxable wages earned. Some cities, like Oakland Park and Hallandale Beach, reimburse employees with same-sex partners paying these taxes. Palm Beach Gardens does not.

In her letter, Blackman, the vice president of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, commended the city's leadership for unanimously supporting non-economic benefits like personal, acute illness, and bereavement leaves, as well as access to the Employee Assistance Program, amid an economic collapse in 2007.

"Fortunately, the economy has turned around," Blackman wrote. She adds that the city's fiscal management has led to a surplus, and that local property values are stable to support her claim.

And according to a report attached to Blackman's letter, 2.2 percent of the city's employees have domestic partners. The report also found there are more than 60 public employers in Florida already offering domestic partner benefits for their employees, and most employers offering domestic partner benefits report a less-than-one-percent increase in total benefit costs.

But the report does not confirm exactly how much extending coverage would cost Palm Beach Gardens, or exactly how much the city's surplus is this fiscal year. SFGN contacted Palm Beach Gardens Vice Mayor Bert Premuroso for comment, but as of publication time, he could not be reached.

"We're really just pushing Palm Beach Gardens to step up now that money doesn't necessarily seem to be an issue," Blackman told SFGN. "I haven't received a response from anybody, negative or positive, so we're being optimistic."

http://www.southfloridagaynews.com/news/national-news/9124-advocate-asks-south-florida-city-leaders-to-offer-domestic-partner-benefits-for-lgbt-employees.html

Boca Raton Appoints Openly Gay 17-year-old Tyler Morrison to City's Community Relations Board

South Florida Gay News - Written by Dylan Bouscher
December 19, 2012

Tyler Morrison went from speaking out against the Boca Raton City Council's lack of LGBT protection, to becoming one its employees, who is now unprotected by a 46-year-old anti-discrimination policy.

Boca Raton became the only city in Palm Beach County to opt-out of protecting its LGBT employees when it passed Ordinance 5161 in January 2011. Morrison, a gay 17-year-old Boca Raton resident, introduced himself to the City Council at its Nov. 14 meeting. Once there, he urged the council members to update a 46-year-old anti-discrimination policy to include protection for the city's LGBT employees.

When city council member Constance Scott supported Morrison and asked the rest of the council what prevented them from moving into the 21st century, Morrison cried.

Then, at their Dec. 11 meeting, the Boca Raton City Council unanimously appointed Morrison to the city's community relations board.

"He seemed like such an articulate and dedicated young man who wanted to get involved," Susan Haynie, Boca Raton's Deputy Mayor, told SFGN after the meeting. "And I suggested that serving on one of the city's advisory boards was the perfect vehicle for him to get involved with our community."

Morrison, however, wasn't at the meeting where the council appointed him. He was playing oboe at the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in his school's holiday concert.

"I tried to log on to watch the meeting live, and the Internet wasn't allowing me to view the live video feed," Morrison said. "So it was a little frustrating at first."

Then Rand Hoch, the President of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council (PBCHRC), left Morrison a face book comment congratulating him for the unanimous appointment.

"This makes you, probably, the youngest openly gay appointed public official in Florida. Congrats," Hoch wrote.

The PBCHRC is a local non-profit focused on eliminating discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. Recently, they have been pushing the Boca Raton City Council to rescind Ordinance 5161 and update its policy along with Morrison.

"I'm not so interested in the title or being the first this, or first that," Morrison said. "It doesn't matter unless I do something about it. I'm looking forward to what I can do."

Hoch came across the community relations board vacancy while researching the Boca Raton city council's anti-discrimination policy. He also encouraged Morrison to apply for the position.

"We discussed it, and he thought that would be something worthwhile to apply to because, at the time, there was no LGBT representation on the Board," Hoch said. "And he's extremely interested in participatory government."

Extremely interested is an understatement. Morrison wants to run for Mayor of Boca Raton in 2014.

"I think he's got to put in his time, before he becomes a viable candidate for Mayor," Hoch said. "One of the ways you do that is to run for city council and one of the ways you do that is to be on the community relations board. But there's a lot of time between now and March 2014, when the election is. Who knows, with his experience on the community relations board, he could be a viable candidate."

Boca Raton Deputy Mayor Susan Haynie agrees Morrison needs time.

"I would like to speak with him about that," Haynie said. "I really want to educate him on what kind of a commitment that truly is too. But for now I think board service is the perfect place for him."

In the meantime, Morrison is focused on using his new position to expand LGBT rights in the city. He's starting with the anti-discrimination policy.

"Absolutely, absolutely, 100 percent, there's not a doubt in my mind it should be updated," Morrison said.

  

http://www.southfloridagaynews.com/news/local-news/8384-boca-raton-appoints-openly-gay-17-year-old-to-city-board.html

PBCHRC to Boca: Extend domestic partner benefits now

"We're not asking for anything radical"

   
By Anne Geggis, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 6, 2012|

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-12-06/news/fl-boca-human-rights-domestic-partners-20121206_1_domestic-partners-mike-woika-gender-expression

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Thursday formally asked again that the Boca Raton City Council recognize the domestic partners of city employees as family members — and extend them the benefits legal spouses receive.

Boca Raton is the biggest Palm Beach County city that hasn't yet done it, said Rand Hoch, president of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council.

"We're asking the city of Boca Raton to do what the city of West Palm Beach did in February 1992 – 20 years ago," Hoch said. "We're not asking for anything radical. We're asking for them to treat their employees and their employees' families equally."

City Council members asked City Manager Leif Ahnell last month to prepare some information on what it would mean for the city to adopt a policy that recognizes domestic partners. They also wanted to know what it would mean for the city to fully embrace the county's equal employment opportunity policy — which says the county will not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender expression.

Mayor Susan Whelchel said she's waiting to see that report before she'll agree with the Human Rights Council's suggestion. But the item is not on next week's City Council agenda, said Mike Woika, assistant city manager.

"We asked the city manager to look around at what other cities are doing and, it hasn't come to us as of this moment," Whelchel said. "I don't know what the costs are, what the consequences of these changes to the city are."

Hoch said that domestic partnership benefits are currently offered by the municipalities of Delray Beach, Jupiter, Lake Worth, Palm Beach Gardens, Wellington and West Palm Beach, and also by Palm Beach County, the Palm Beach County School District, the Port of Palm Beach, the Palm Beach County Health Care District, Palm Beach State College, the Children's Services Council, Palm Tran, Seacoast Utility Authority, the Solid Waste Authority and all five of Palm Beach County's elected officials.

Boca has been on the Human Rights Council president's radar since a contract snag brought to light a City Council ordinance passed in January 2011. In that ordinance, Boca Raton opted out of including sexual orientation and gender expression as the county's equal employment policy does. The snag in the contract was resolved 30 days later when language was added to the contract providing that Boca Raton would not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, without requiring the city to provide benefits to gay domestic partners.

Hoch said many of the changes he's suggested to Boca Raton's policy won't cost much. In addition to health benefits, the proposed changes to Boca's policies would also mean, for example, that people can get bereavement leave if their domestic partner's mother dies or if a domestic partner falls ill.

In Florida, domestic partners can't legally become spouses.

"We're just asking for people to be treated the same way," Hoch said. "They are talking maybe three to five employees, at most. You are either going to treat people fairly or you are going to discriminate against them."

Boca Raton City Council To Consider LGBT-Inclusive Nondiscrimination Policies

At last week's Boca Raton City Council meeting,City Attorney Diane Grub Frieser was directed to research updating the city's nondiscrimination policies to include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression and to report back to the council "in the very near future."  

The action was taken following heartfelt comments made by Boca Raton native Tyler Morrison, a high school student at the Dreyfus School of the Arts.

"Currently in Boca Raton, LGBT employees have no legal recourse to protect themselves. LGBT employees are fair game for discriminatory acts," said Morrison.  "It is simply unacceptable."

Boca Raton's longstanding animus against its gay, lesbian and gender non-conforming municipal employees came to light again two months ago when it was revealed that the city had quietly opted out of Palm Beach County's Equal Employment Ordinance in 2011.

The county ordinance provides legal recourse to individuals who may have been subjected to discrimination based on race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, familial status, marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.

"Since no federal or state law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, the Palm Beach County Equal Employment Ordinance provided the only legal recourse to gay, lesbian and gender non-conforming employees working for the City of Boca Raton," said Rand Hoch, president and founder of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council. "Boca Raton's gay, lesbian and gender non-conforming employees were stripped of all of their civil rights in 2011."

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council is a local non-profit organization which, since 1988, has been dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.  It promotes equality, through education, advocacy, direct action, impact litigation, and community outreach.

"Since we had no idea just who it was in city hall that was responsible for taking away the all of the rights of the city's gay, lesbian and gender non-conforming employees, we filed a series of public records requests to find out," said Hoch. 

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council also launched its "Boca Bigots Run City Hall" media campaign to prevent city officials from ignoring the issue.

When Boca Raton failed to timely provide the requested public records, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council hired attorney W. Trent Steele to file suit against the city for violations of the Florida Public Records Act. Shortly thereafter, the city began to produce some of the requested documents.

Palm Beach County Human Rights Council attorneys reviewed hundreds of pages of public records in an attempt to discover who was behind Boca Raton's discriminatory actions against the city's gay, lesbian and gender non-conforming employees.

That review led to the conclusion that the city attorney and City Manager Leif Ahnell had not provided complete and accurate information when the city council opted-out  of the Palm Beach County Equal Employment Ordinance back in 2011.

"I do not believe that a majority of the members of the Boca Raton City Council have any problems protecting the rights of Boca Raton's gay, lesbian and gender-nonconforming employees," said Hoch.  "Unfortunately, over the past few years, they made some very harmful decisions because city staff did not provide them accurate and complete information."

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council took steps to provide the city council members with the information that had been withheld by city administrators.  That information, along with Morrison's eloquent public comments at last week's city council meeting, moved the council to take action.

Immediately after City Council Member Constance Scott initiated the discussion on updating the city's nondiscrimination policies, the city attorney took an offensive position, as she had done previously.  However, it was obvious she had little support from the city council members.

In response to questioning by Deputy Mayor Susan Haynie, City Attorney Freiser was forced to admit that Boca Raton had not updated its list of protected classes in the Boca Raton Code of Ordinances since 1966.

"It is frightening that we have not looked at the policies since then," declared Haynie.

"Based on the comments made at the meeting, it appears that had the city council been presented with full and accurate information back in 2011, they would not have opted-out of the county's Equal Employment Ordinance," said Hoch.

"The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council is particularly encouraged by the hands-on approach taken by  Deputy Mayor Haynie and City Council Member Scott," said Hoch.  "It is our hope that the City of Boca Raton will soon rescind the 2011 opt-out ordinance, adopt LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination policies, and offer the full range of domestic partnership benefits to its lesbian and gay employees."

____________________________________________

TAKE ACTION

Send an e-mail message to the members of the Boca Raton City Council, thanking them for agreeing to update the city's nondiscrimination policies.

Step one:  Cut and past these e-mail addresses onto your "To" Line.

swhelchel@ci.boca-raton.fl.us,shaynie@ci.boca-raton.fl.us,amajhess@ci.boca-raton.fl.us,cscott@ci.boca-raton.fl.us,mmullaugh@ci.boca-raton.fl.us 

Step two:  When your e-mail pops up, type the following in the "Subject" line:

Thank you.

Step three:    Compose a personal message to all five Council Members or cut and past the following message:

Thank you for directing staff to update the city's nondiscrimination policies to include "sexual orientation" and "gender identity or expression."  Be sure to rescind Boca Raton Ordinance 5161 to provide your female and minority employees local recourse in the event they feel they have been discriminated against.

Also, please consider offering he full range of domestic partnership benefits to city employees.

Step four:  Hit send.

Step five:    Forward this to your supportive friends and family, so they may take action as well.

The Boca Raton City Council Members are:

Mayor Susan Whelchel
swhelchel@ci.boca-raton.fl.us

Deputy Mayor Susan Haynie
shaynie@ci.boca-raton.fl.us

Council Member Anthony Majhess
amajhess@ci.boca-raton.fl.us

Council Member Constance J. Scott
cscott@ci.boca-raton.fl.us

Council Member Michael Mullaugh
mmullaugh@ci.boca-raton.fl.us

Boca Bigots Update: Boca Raton City Attorney Lied To City Council About Nondiscrimination Ordinance

November 2, 2012

(Boca Raton, Florida)  In response to the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council's ongoing "Boca Bigots Run City Hall" media campaign, Boca Raton Deputy Mayor Susan Haynie took time out at last week's City Council meeting to address "a lot of e-mail accusing us of discriminatory action and bigotry."

"We are not discriminatory. We are not bigoted here in our community," Haynie insisted before asking City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser to explain that the charges "are certainly unfounded."

"The City has had its own 'equal employment, equal opportunity ordinance' in effect for many years and we have always followed that ordinance," Frieser told the City Council.  "It is fully compliant with state and federal law and has always been an appropriate ordinance."   

In her remarks, Frieser made no less than ten references to the city's "equal employment, equal opportunity ordinance". 

The problem is, no such ordinance appears to exist.

"That is just another lie from the bigots who run Boca Raton city hall," said Palm Beach County Human Rights Council President Rand Hoch.  "Contrary to the repeated assertions of Boca Raton's City Attorney, no equal employment or equal opportunity ordinance appears in the  Code of Ordinances of the City of Boca Raton."

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council is a local nonprofit organization, founded in 1988, which is dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

In an attempt to determine whether Boca Raton ever enacted an ordinance, but somehow did not include it in the Code of Ordinances, the Human Rights Council filed a public records request to obtain a copy of the alleged ordinance. 

"If Boca Raton has an equal employment opportunity ordinance in effect, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council wants to review it and learn how it came into existence," said Hoch. 

However, Hoch is not optimistic that the City will respond.

"We have repeatedly written to the members of the Boca Raton City Council and we have filed five different public records requests with the city so far this year," said Hoch.  "To date, we have not heard from the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor or any of the City Council Members.  Nor has a single document been produced in response to any of our public records requests."

The Human Rights Council retained attorney W. Trent Steele to to file suit against Boca Raton for its failure to comply with Florida's Public Records Act. 

"If Boca produces an 'equal employment, equal opportunity ordinance', I will personally apologize to Ms. Frieser for calling her a liar," said Hoch.  "However, I will not apologize to any of the Boca officials for calling them bigots - because I believe that is what they are."
       
The city's issues with discrimination came to light again last month when Boca Raton officials informed Palm Beach County Commissioners that the city would not sign an interlocal agreement with the county as long as it required Boca Raton to state that the city does not discriminate against its employees on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

Palm Beach County's Nondiscrimination in Contracting Policy prohibits the county from funding any entity that practices discrimination which the County has determined to be unlawful.  The policy also requires a specific nondiscrimination provision to be included in all county contracts.

The County's Equal Employment Ordinance protects employees from discrimination based on race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, familial status, marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.

Although County Commissioner Steven Abrams, a former mayor of Boca Raton, attempted to persuade his colleagues to remove "gender identity or expression" from the interlocal agreement, the Commissioners voted unanimously to include all of the protected classes in the agreement.

The Commissioners gave Boca Raton 60 days to either execute the agreement including the County's nondiscrimination language or to forfeit the $1.2 million in County funding to be used for cleaning up hazardous materials in Boca Raton.

At last week's City Council meeting, Boca Raton acquiesced to the County's terms in order to secure the County's money.

The dispute between Boca Raton and Palm Beach County on discrimination issues has been brewing for several years.

Under Palm Beach County's Equal Employment Ordinance, the County's Office of Equal Opportunity is charged with investigating and resolving charges of discrimination.

"Since the federal government and the State of Florida have refused to enact laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, Palm Beach County's Equal Employment Ordinance provides the only legal recourse to gay, lesbian and gender non-conforming employees working in Palm Beach County," said Hoch.

Last month, both the Human Rights Council and the County Attorney learned that in 2011, Boca Raton Deputy Mayor Susan Haynie asked the Boca Raton City Council to pass an ordinance allowing Boca Raton to opt out of the County's Equal Employment Ordinance. 

After Haynie's motion was seconded by Mayor Susan Whelchel, Boca Raton Ordinance No. 5161 was unanimously enacted by the City Council. 

"It took less than two minutes for the bigots who run Boca Raton City Hall to strip away all of the civil rights previously held by the City's gay, lesbian and gender non-conforming municipal employees, " said Hoch.  "That one vote by the bigots who run Boca Raton left their gay, lesbian and gender non-conforming municipal employees without any legal recourse to challenge employment discrimination."

Within days of learning that Boca Raton had opted out of the County's Equal Employment ordinance, the Human Rights Council sent letters to Mayor Whelchel, Deputy Mayor Haynie and Boca Raton City Council Members Anthony Majhess, Constance Scott and Michael Mullaugh urging them "take prompt action to rescind City of Boca Raton Ordinance No. 5161."

Although no one from the City Council -- or anyone employed by the City of Boca Raton -- ever responded to the letters from the Human Rights Council, that  has not deterred the civil rights organization..

The Human Rights Council sent a follow-up letter to Deputy Mayor Haynie asking her "to take an objective look" at what Boca Raton has actually done concerning discrimination.

"Perhaps you would see that the City of Boca Raton is, in fact, discriminating," Hoch wrote.  "And this is not just against the City's lesbian, gay and gender nonconforming employees, but also against women and other minorities working for the City."

Hoch also informed Haynie that, from his review of the City's Code of Ordinance, it appeared that Boca Raton had not updated the classes of people protected from discrimination since 1966.

"In the 46 years which have passed since the City of Boca Raton addressed discrimination ..., the federal government has prohibited discrimination based on disability, pregnancy and genetic information.  Additionally, the State of Florida has prohibited discrimination based on marital status," wrote Hoch.  "The time has come for the City of Boca Raton to actually enact the type of equal employment/equal opportunity ordinance that you were told already was in existence."

While Boca Raton does not appear to have an ordinance addressing equal opportunity in municipal employment, the City's Job Application Process web page includes a statement which reads:   The City of Boca Raton does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin,  marital status, disability or veteran status.

A slightly different statement, which appears on the  the  City's Human Resources main web page, includes "genetic information" along with the aforementioned protected classes. 

The Human Rights Council has asked Haynie to have Boca Raton update all of the city's nondiscrimination policies to "include race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy discrimination and sexual harassment), national origin, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information or gender identity or expression."

"Boca Raton currently includes 'veteran status' in its nondiscrimination statements, even though that is not required by federal or state law," said Hoch.  "Therefore, there is precedent for Boca to include both 'sexual orientation', and "gender identity or expression", neither of which are required to be included by federal or state law."

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council also asked Haynie to have Boca Raton restore the civil rights taken away by the enactment of Boca Raton Ordinance No. 5161 and advised the Deputy Mayor that "as long as Ordinance No. 5161 remains in effect, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council will continue to expand our 'Boca Bigots Run City Hall' campaign."