From: Date: Tue, 21 Mar 1995 22:11:20 -0500 Subject: Kentucky Fried Chicken The April issue of The Letter, Kentucky's gay and lesbian newspaper, has been put to bed. If you'd like to get a text file with a selection of articles and features from this month's issue, please e-mail me and I will send it to you. Most of these articles cover news from the immediate region which may not be getting out to the national gay and lesbian community. We are including our lead article below--about Kentucky Fried Chicken. Permission to reprint is hereby granted as long as The Letter is attributed as the source. For subscriptions, send $25 to The Letter, PO Box 3882, Louisville, KY 40201. Thanks. David Williams, Editor KFC DENIES ALLEGATIONS OF DISCRIMINATION by David Williams KFC, Inc. (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken) is vehemently denying that it discriminates against employees because of their race or sexual orientation and points to its equal employment policy as proof. "It is unfortunate that the author of this rumor did not check with us first," says Jean Litterst, Manager of Public Affairs at KFC's world headquarters in Louisville. "I can assure you that it is absolutely unacceptable to KFC to terminate an employee because he or she is gay or lesbian. Such an act would be totally against KFC's equal employment opportunity policy. It is our policy. We certainly respect the personal choices of our employees in every arena, including religion, politics, and sexual orientation, among others." The policy, adopted January 1, 1986 and revised on April 2, 1993, states that KFC's goal is to encourage gender, racial, and ethnic diversity at all levels of its work force and to maintain a working environment free of discrimination and sexual harassment. "KFC affords equal opportunity to all applicants and associates," it goes on, "without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, national origin, or citizenship...." Litterst was responding to claims made by Denise Bentley, former manager of a KFC store on West Market Street in Louisville, that she had been forced to terminate a valued employee in 1992 because he was gay. The employee, who she says still lives in Louisville, could not be located for this article. (Bentley is suing KFC on an unrelated matter in which she claims KFC did not give her her old job back, as promised, after being off for a work-related injury). According to Bentley, the KFC management representative who regularly visited her store repeatedly asked her to fire the man because KFC did not want gay employees. Bentley refused. "I felt if I had to terminate this person based on their sexual orientation," she says, "then I was opening up Pandora's box and giving KFC the opportunity to terminate anybody for any reason, including their race, their weight, their disability, whatever. It's not an acceptable practice." Bentley says the representative did eventually fire the man on a day when she was off. The employee later filed for unemployment compensation. Bentley testified at a hearing that his work record was excellent and that she knew of no valid reason for his dismissal. He was approved for payments, but Bentley says that at a meeting soon thereafter KFC told its store managers that they must not hire people who are "obviously" gay or lesbian. Litterst counters, however, that the company has no record of any such hearing. She says that the individual responsible for handling employee complaints, who has held that position for four years, does not recall anything close to what Bentley claims, and neither do his two predecessors. "From his experience with KFC during the last four years," she notes, "the sexual orientation of our employees, like their religion or their politics, is not a matter of concern to the company." "I'm very offended by these allegations," she concludes. "In those instances where an employee has disclosed their sexual orientation, those employees have continued to enjoy very successful careers with KFC." Charges of racial discrimination have also been leveled against KFC by others. The Justice Resource Center, led by Rev. Louis Coleman of Louisville, is planning a one-day city-wide protest and boycott against KFC on Saturday, April 1 to demand that KFC implement fair hiring and promotional practices, in writing, for all its employees. Other companies, such as Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, which are owned by PepsiCo, KFC's parent company, are also being targeted.