Recently Laurie McCallum, the wife of former Governor Scott McCallum, was appointed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker to serve a six-year term on Wisconsin’s Labor and Industry Review commission, and she’s already making waves as a member of the commission:
Laurie McCallum, who was recently appointed by Gov. Scott Walker to a six-year term on the state’s Labor and Industry Review Commission, wrote that the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act applies only to sexual harassment. That contention was the basis for her dissenting opinion in a case involving Milwaukeean Chris Bowen, a machine operator who was subjected to years of anti-gay harassment as an employee of Stroh Precision Die Casting.
In a 2-1 decision, commissioners Robert Glaser and Ann L. Crump found that Stroh was responsible for fostering a workplace environment hostile to Bowen because of his sexual orientation. Stroh did not deny that the harassment occurred; nor did the company argue that anti-gay harassment is allowed under state law during the eight years that the case bounced around the court system.
But McCallum, the politically connected wife of former GOP Gov. Scott McCallum, defied nearly 30 years of precedent in state law by asserting that sexual “preference,” as she put it, is not a protected category in workplace discrimination cases.
Welcome to Republican Wisconsin, where harassing someone because of their sexual orientation is acceptable!
DON’T LET YOURSLEF BE MANIPULATED!!!!
This article is full of half-truths, twisted facts, and just plain lies. This article is exactly the same tactic Hitler used (twisting facts about the Jews) to fan the flames and gain followers from the less educated classes.
Read the case: http://libcd.law.wisc.edu/~wb/will0117/487791ca.pdf
Turns out no one knew this guy was gay until when he filled out the WLIRC complaint (possibly when his lawyer told him this would be his best chance for a big settlement). At the time the plaintiff had a wife and child.
He lost his first case before the WLIRC and first appeal DURING THE DOYLE ADMINISTRATION.
The 2nd time through, the decision came down to if “sexual orientation” appears in the law: “111.321 Prohibited bases of discrimination”. It doesn’t. While I personally feel it should, how can an employer be held to a law that doesn’t exist yet? No wonder companies are fleeing overseas.
However, most interestingly … in the end who got money? … only the LAWYERS! Sadly, no surprise there. 🙁 More reason to move overseas.