ONE MORE REASON FOR SMALL BUSINESS IN RHODE ISLAND TO FEAR LAW SUITS
PROVIDENCE (May 27, 2015): The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the state’s leading small business organization, testified today in front of Rhode Island’s Labor Committee voicing opposition to the allowance of a new cause of action for employment discrimination lawsuits based on a “familial status” classification.
“By allowing employment discrimination lawsuits based on familial status, all workers who help support a family member will become potential plaintiffs, creating such a large group of potential victims of discrimination that the law would threaten the ability of the Commission Against Discrimination and the courts to process the cases,” according to NFIB Rhode Island State Director Bill Vernon, “In our litigious society, this new law would result in employers facing harsh penalties for any adverse action in the workplace from a reprimand to passing someone over for a promotion. And, even if prevailing in a lawsuit, employers would spend large sums of money for attorney fees that could have been invested in the business and would be required to spend chunks of time away from running their small businesses.”
The legislation broadly defines “family member” as a spouse, civil union partner, parent, grandparent, sibling, in-law, child, grandchild, niece or nephew. That would create a fundamentally different type of protected class compared to other safeguards for characteristics of an individual that are inherent and usually permanent, such as race, color, national origin, disability, or age.
“Finally, because an employee’s “familial status” is a constantly changing circumstance, at some point this law would likely include practically every worker, often without the employer having any knowledge of the circumstance. Is it any wonder that one of small business owners’ greatest fears is a lawsuit?” And this bill could create thousands of them, further depressing the business climate in Rhode Island,” Vernon concluded.
