LGBT People's Experiences of Workplace Discimination and Harassment

B. Sears, C. Mallory, A.R. Flores, K.J. Conron

Executive Summary: Over 8 million workers in the U.S. identify as LGBT. Employment discrimination and harassment against LGBT people has been documented in a variety of sources and found to negatively impact employees' health and wellbeing and to reduce job commitment and satisfaction. This report examines experiences of employment discrimination and harassment against LGBT adults using a survey of 935 LGBT adults conducted in May of 2021. Lifetime, five-year, and past year discrimination were assessed among adults employed as of March 2020 - just before many workplaces were forced to shut down because of COVID-19. Accordingly, this survey is one of the first to gather information about experiences of sexual orientation and gender identity employment discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the year following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that employment discrimination against LGBT people is prohibited by the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.