Bank of America survey asks workers about sexual orientation

[Kadie]

Bank of America survey asks workers about sexual orientation
David Lazarus

Saturday, January 15, 2005


Bank of America is urging its more than 175,000 employees to fill out an online survey about job satisfaction. Question 64 asks respondents to "indicate which one of the following best describes yourself."

Clicking on the pull-down menu provides four choices:

-- Heterosexual

-- Bisexual

-- Homosexual

-- Transgendered

Human resources professionals say it's highly unusual for a company of BofA's size and stature to seek such information.

Privacy advocates say that even though BofA insists all survey results are confidential, the reality is that online forms can be traced back to individual workstations.

Employees within the bank say they're afraid the information they provide could be used to generalize about the work habits of certain types of people.



more...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/01/15/BUGUSAQRP41.DTL

[htuttle]

1. I don't see how they can even ask that

That's one of those things they tell you not to ever ask in Human Resources 101.

:wtf:

[jokerman93]

44. sounds like

Sounds like, in our new culture of corporate supremacy, the rules are changing. The big money corporations lately seem to be acting like they've won, especially since the chimp extended his franchise on the White House.

As the Truck commercial chants: A shift has been made...A shift has been made...And Walmart proclaims delivery of the American Dream to all non-white wage-slaves in cheap garish colors and bright smiles...and Bank of America knows what you do with your heart and your genitals...

Strange days indeed.

:crazy:

[benburch]

2. This isn't right at all.

What were they thinking?

[Stepup2]

4. Discrimination most likely

until gay and lesbian workers are given federal anti discrimination protection this has the makings for a witch hunt.

[benny05]

3. Lawsuit City

I cannot believe B of A did this. It's totally illegal, even if it's voluntary information. I have an account there (not that I use often; I may w/d now and state this reason for it.

Goons! Do they think they have a mandate because of W? Hello...:evilfrown: It's hard to be nice in language about this, but I'm trying.

[davidwparker]

6. I had an account there, but have since closed it for

banking at a regional bank that doesn't outsource. That was the reason I gave when I closed the account. People need to put their money where there beliefs are.

[gristy]

20. I closed my account at BofA about 6 years ago

Horrible service. Switched to a local bank. Much, much better.

[dad]

25. B of A *is* my local bank ...

I am from Charlotte. Those fuckers donated $250K to Bush, but so did the other big local bank, Wachovia. Then there is the new "religious" bank called new dominion or something like that. Haha, might as well stick with B of A and follow along as they continue their quest to take over the earth. I have been with 'em since 1996- but F them anyway...

[TahitiNut]

5. Why don't they just ask "Who do you fuck?"

:puke:

I'm really growing fond of the f-bomb. Thank you, Dick Cheney.

[AndyTiedye]

7. So They Can Fire Them All The Minute It Becomes Legal to Do So

They expect Congress to legalize discrimination against gay people,
and they want to be ready.

[Sgent]

8. Wrong yes, illegal maybe

Unfortunately, sexual orientation is not a federally protected class.

At some branches (Calif I believe, etc.) it would be illegal. I would be willing to bet that for a large number of them in the Midwest and Southeast, it would be perfectly legal.

In most states its also legal to fire someone due to sexual orientation.

[Kadie]

11. per the article in reference to California

snip...
It's against the law in California to ask job seekers their sexual orientation or to use such information in any way to discriminate against a worker. But state officials say it appears BofA hasn't crossed the line in asking current employees the question in its survey.

Janie Siess, assistant deputy director of program and policy development at the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing, said it seems that BofA has skirted California's strict privacy laws by permitting workers not to answer the question.

"The issue here is what Bank of America will use this information for," she said.

[TankLV]

38. Great. "I refuse to answer on grounds that it may incriminate me."

So, someone doesn't answer.

Only logical conclusion for these people: "We've got another one!" (Look who's gay!)

Why would a "breeder" refuse to answer? I bet not many "breeders" will refuse to answer.

Are you a commie?
When did you stop beating your wife/husband/child/dog?
Are you a Democrat?
Do you masturbate?
Are you a Christian?

There is no good answer.

They are preparing for something not good, not good at all.

See you all in the camps!

[Stepup2]

26. Unless I am mistaken

it is legal to discriminate as we pontificate

[HuckleB]

9. Weird.

BA was one of the first big corps, and I think the first big bank, to offer broad domestic partner benefits to employees.

Not sure what this is all about. Something doesn't mesh.

[StuckinKS]

37. That was when they were based in SF.

Not too long ago they merged with the much more conservative,NC based Nations Bank.

[HuckleB]

50. Nations Bank has similar policies.

I'm just not ready to jump to conclusions of sinister goings on.

[420inTN]

56. And they just bought Fleet National. n/t

[leesa]

10. That's it. My Bof A account is gone.

[sarcasmo]

13. Let them know why you are closing your account.

[nosmokes]

30. banks are the devil's work anyhow - use a credit union.

most CUs you won't hafta pay for anything except your checks, loan rates are better than the banks, and you aren't financing some CEO's $500m dollar a year salary while the people you're interacting with are making $18k.

[sarcasmo]

12. Information provided will get them fired.

What a joke this is, next they will be asking you how many people you slept with. This is just a way to find out how many gays they have on the payroll so they can fire them. Repukes/homophobes must control this bank. If I banked at Bank of America I would close my account.

[roguevalley]

14. against the law. period.

[EC]

15. I notice

they don't list Celibacy...


On edit: Target used to ask how many times a day you shit...don't really recall how it was phrased and I'm guessing they were using that as to how much time you'd be off the sales floor. But I didn't finish the application after seeing that question...just walked out..(it was on the management application)

[mondo joe]

21. Celibacy is not a sexual orientation

One can be a homosexual celibate, a hetero celibate, a bi celibate.

[NYC]

16. Everyone ought to answer "transgendered".

And I mean everyone.

[brentspeak]

17. Where's the "None of your damn business" response? n/t

[dsc]

18. To those in this thread who insist this is illegal

a huge news flash it isn't in 37 states. Every gay person in those states, including PA, IL, and several other blue states could be fired tomorrow with no legal reprecussion whatsoever. Though there are cities within those states which do infact protect gays.

[Kadie]

19. California says it isn't illegal, as I posted above

snip...
It's against the law in California to ask job seekers their sexual orientation or to use such information in any way to discriminate against a worker. But state officials say it appears BofA hasn't crossed the line in asking current employees the question in its survey.

Janie Siess, assistant deputy director of program and policy development at the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing, said it seems that BofA has skirted California's strict privacy laws by permitting workers not to answer the question.

"The issue here is what Bank of America will use this information for," she said.

[Maven]

54. But isn't a non-answer also an "answer"

That is, wouldn't they just assume that most (notice I said most) heteros would simply choose hetero, feeling no reason no to, and that everyone else was "questionable?"

[benburch]

22. No longer in IL...

We just passed a Gay Rights law here!

http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/01/011105Illinois.htm

Illinois Enacts Gay Rights Law 
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: January 11, 2005  2:06 p.m. ET

Springfield, Illinois) After a decade long struggle to gain civil rights protections the Illinois legislature has passed a law banning the discrimination of gays and lesbians.

The House passed the measure by a 65 - 51 vote Tuesday on the final day of the session.  The bill passed the Senate Monday night.  It now goes to Gov. Rod Blagojevich who has said he will sign it.

The law adds "sexual orientation" to the state law that protects people from bias based on race, religion and similar traits. It applies to discrimination in jobs, housing, public accommodations or credit.

<SNIP>

[dsc]

24. The governor hasn't signed it yet

though he has stated he will.

[benburch]

32. You need a proper signing ceremony for such things.

Patience.

[dsc]

41. I am not one to count chickens before they hatch

I feel very, very, good about the state I went to college in but until the Gov's name is on that bill, I won't count on it.

[madison2000]

23. What if you clicked on heterosexual and it came up homosexual?

There could be survey fraud...

:hi:

[n2mark]

27. The truth is

they can track you, this is discrimination for sure. I'm interested in knowing other questions on the survey. At my last job they said the survey was private and annonymous, but the questions revealed who you could be. Examples, are you administration management, support staff, male, female, how many years you worked at the organization? How old are you? and of course the salary selections. Dah!, doesn't take a brain surgeon to know that they know who is responding.

Confidential! BS!

Shrub needs to learn that not everyone is as stupid in this world.

I would just refuse to respond to the survey. There were many people who refused to respond to surveys at my past working place.

[insane_cratic_gal]

28. Not sure if it Matters but

BOA is one of the $250,000 Inaugural Donors for *

Maybe they are starting to believe they can jump on the fundy bandwagon.

[jayctravis]

29. on first glance I thought...

Oh my gosh, they can't do that.

Then I thought...at least they're asking the question.

Perhaps they want to see what the cost output would be if they covered domestic partners of all genders.

If it's not a huge issue, why is this a taboo question?

[Don Claybrook]

34. They do cover domestic partners

Domestic partners are covered with Bank of America's insurance.

Also, to the poster above, the BofA CEO endorsed Kerry for president.

[Thurston Howell IV]

31. Everyone may be jumping to the wrong conclusions here

As HuckleB noted, BofA was one of the first large corporations to cover domestic partners. Both Hugh McColl and Ken Lewis supported Democratic candidates -- Clinton and Kerry. Lewis was very out front in supporting Kerry -- he participated in a forum in which 200 CEOs announced their support for Kerry.

The answers were voluntary.

As far as giving $ to Republicans -- most corps cover their asses by giving to both parties.

[William Bloode]

33. It's simple...

I would not answer the question. I don't think it's any of their business what i or anyone else does in their bedroom.

Of i wanted people in my bedroom i'd do it like normal folks. Make a movie and post it on the net ;)

[kweerwolf]

35. Odd, considering B of A's history

They are in the top 10 (maybe even the top 5) for progressive, LGBT-friendly corporations.

I can't imagine they are doing an about-face on their progressive stances and hope the question (as misguided as it is) was meant to assess how well the company was meeting the needs of its LGBT employees.

Still, in this day and age I'd be hesitant to answer such a question from an employer ... even one with a sterling record as a gay-friendly company.

[Orangepeel]

36. Maybe if everybody checks "gay" they'll offer benefits to same sex mates

I'm not convinced this is anything sinister. Bank of America most likely contracted out the research project and the research company doesn't care who is gay. They probably just used a template.

Is it a violation of privacy to ask? Sure, in today's world. Although it shouldn't be. It shouldn't be anymore of an issue than asking for marital status.

[HuckleB]

49. They do. One of the first biggies to offer domestic partners bennies. -nt-

[ATLBobby]

39. Contractor at BofA / Former Employee

I was with Bank of America for 5 years and am now a contractor there. I was with NationsBank before the merger.

This survey is for Associate Satisfaction. (Employees are called Associates.) I didn't take it because I'm not officially an employee anymore. It is an odd question, but I don't think many will refuse to answer. I am gay and was never in the closet when I was an associate, nor am I now. Bank of America has a huge number of gay employees across the country. In fact, NationsBank used to be called QueerNationsBank by their gay employees. I would guess that at least 5% of Bank of America employees are openly gay; perhaps even more. (If all the gay employees disappeared one day, the Bank couldn't open.)

Bank of America does offer domestic partner benefits to both gay and straight couples. It has an active gay/lesbian employees group. They have had a booth at the Gay Pride Festival in Atlanta for several years now. The Bank includes sexual orientation in it's nondiscrimination clause.

As stated before, former CEO Hugh McColl was very supportive of all employees. When the county commissioners in Mecklenburg County (Charlotte, NC) passed a bill refusing to provide funds to any group that "promoted" the homosexual lifestyle, Mr. McColl led a campaign to remove the commissioners who voted for the bill. He also led the campaign for a citizens' art fund to provide funding to those organizations hurt by the bill.

Don't get me wrong - some managers and associates are homophobic. And I know some managers who are/were very reluctant to come out. I know that some of the managers discussed my orientation. When my manager thought that a senior manager had discriminated against me, he reported it to HR, who promptly called me to inquire. I had to almost force them to back-off. They made it well known that discrimination based on sexual orientation would not be tolerated.

I think the purpose of the question is to try to better understand the needs of the associates. Perhaps this will help them in determining whether to offer more options for gay associates in benefits. Maybe they'll try harder to promote different savings plans to get more of their associates' discretionary income. I'm very sure that they won't use it for any negative purposes. If they were to try, the backlash by the associates would be incredible.

[Orangepeel]

46. Thanks, ATLBobby. And welcome to DU!

:hi:

People are always ready to believe the worst, especially about corporations ("B of A asked about orientation? I'm cancelling my account!") without knowing the whole story.

Sometimes, that's just a smart thing to do (it often IS the worst), but not always. Sometimes, companies really ARE trying to do the right thing by their employees. Wise companies know that having employees who are satisfied with their jobs and happy with their employers means more productivity and less turnover costs.

[HuckleB]

48. Thanks for the post and the needed context.

This is why I didn't jump to conclusions. It didn't make sense for BA, regardless of the merger. While it might be a mistake. I didn't believe that it was done with sinister intentions, though I still choose to wait and see for events to play out.

Welcome to DU.

[Nile]

40. Could it be that they just want the information to determine benefits?

If they find that a fair number of their employees are homosexual they may extend benefits to cover them and their partners.

[Misunderestimator]

42. I, for one, would lie on that question, just as I do on some

survey questions on my own company's annual surveys. Anonymous, my ass.

[The Flaming Red Head]

43. They need ambiguous as a category

I know lots of people in that group.

Or maybe sometimes or almost never or only when I'm away from home as a choice or choices depending on the situation.

[BiggJawn]

45. What, no "Plushie" or "Furry"?

I'd leave it blank and tell Catbert "you left out my choice" and leave it to them to puzzle it out....

[GoddessOfGuinness]

47. ResponsibleShopper.org says this about BoA:

Bank of America achieved a score of 86 on the Human Rights Campaign 2003 Corporate Equality Index which rates large corporations on policies that affect their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors. The 2003 HRC Corporate Equality Index rated 250 companies on a scale of 0 percent to 100 percent on seven factors. The company also achieved a score of 86 on the organization's 2002 Corporate Equality Index. Source: Human Rights Campaign

and

Bank of America has a non-discrimination policy that includes sexual orientation. Source: Human Rights Campaign

There are plenty of complaints about them, mostly with regard to ethics, but the company doesn't seem to have a problem with discrimination, as yet.

I would personally never do business with a bank that charges non-account holders to cash BoA checks.

[TahitiNut]

52. With the NationsBank and FleetBoston mergers, BofA isn't the same BofA.

Remember, they kept the "Bank of America" name solely because of its 'goodwill' and not because it's the same bank.

[ATLBobby]

57. Not the Same BofA

That's very true. Bank of America is basically NationsBank with a different name. But I've noticed a change in attitude by most all employees for the better. Bank of America was/is probably the strongest name in banking. There is a strong respect for the history of the old Bank of America and the power that the name brings. But given some of the decisions of the old Bank of America senior management, it was only a matter of time before they were purchased/merged into another bank.

[Scout1071]

51. Disney Employees (including ABC and ESPN) were asked the same

thing on an employee satisfaction survey this year.

[0007]

53. What's a "Transgendered"?

[TalkingDog]

55. Educate yourself. Google it. n/t