DAILY LABOR REPORT

                                OCTOBER  14, 1993

EMPLOYERS THAT FAIL TO BAR DISCRIMINATION AGAINST GAYS AND LESBIANS MAY
PAY A PRICE.

   LOS ANGELES--Employers in California that provide an atmosphere free of
discrimination toward gays and lesbians, through measures such as written
anti-discrimination policies, are not only following state law but saving 
money
in the long run, according to speakers at an Oct. 13 human resource seminar.

   In addition, employees who are open about their sexual orientation are more
productive and less likely to take their expertise and training elsewhere to a
more nurturing company, according to panelists at the seminar offered by UCLA
Extension's Department of Business and Management in Los Angeles.

   Carol Anderson, an attorney and founder of Los Angeles-based Gay and 
Lesbian
Alliance Against Defamation, said companies may also face the cost of an
expensive and time-consuming lawsuit if they do not act to prevent
discrimination against gays and lesbians in the workplace.

   "If a company chooses in the state of California not to hire, or to fire, 
an
openly gay person, it will buy a lawsuit," said Anderson, recently appointed 
to
the newly created Los Angeles Police Department Police Permit Review Panel. 
"The
fact is it affects the bottom line."

   Anderson said one way to avoid lawsuits is to have a policy in place that
states "discrimination is not acceptable at any level" and to have managers 
and
supervisors act accordingly. "Until the people in the upper management level
actually start to say and mean they will not accept treating people 
differently,
based on their race, their ethnicity, their sex or sexual orientation, and
understand the importance, nothing changes," Anderson said.

   Dennis Frahmann, who works in manager and consultant relations for Xerox
Corp. in El Segundo, Calif., said it took two years for an anti-discrimination
policy adopted by the company to filter down to managers and employees because
few people were aware of it and the company's annual report did not 
incorporate
the language changes. "It [the lengthy delay] made gay and lesbian employees
feel real uncomfortable," he said.

   Soon after the policy was adopted, Frahmann said homosexual employees 
formed
an employee group called Gays and Lesbians at Xerox to bring certain issues to
the attention of management. He noted some progress, including a recent change
in company policy to allow unmarried employees to bring an adult guest to
company functions. Married employees always had the option of bringing 
spouses,
he said.

'Lavender Ceiling' Battle Goes On

   Despite the gains at Xerox, considered one of the top 10 best companies to
work for by gays and lesbians, according to Frahmann, he says the battle to
break the "lavender ceiling" is far from over. "I still think we have a long 
way
to go," he said.

   The employee group is continuing efforts to obtain employee benefits for
 domestic partners,  a move that Anderson contends will not cost companies 
more
money. "If you hired all non-gay people, you'd be paying that much anyway. 
It's
not an actual dollar detriment to you," Anderson said.

   Lauren Jardine, an associate director of The Motivational Institute in Los
Angeles who has taught cultural diversity for two decades, said gays and
lesbians in the workplace are "30 years behind" in acceptability and basic
rights. She cited a recent training session on sexual orientation that she
conducted for librarians and other library employees in Los Angeles where a
large number of librarians and employees refused to participate because of
religious or other beliefs. "We're still dealing with a very, very volatile
issue," Jardine said.

   Corporations that manage a diverse workforce can take several steps to
improve the environment for gays and lesbians, including recognition of gay 
and
lesbian employee groups and cultural diversity training, Jardine said. "These
trainings make a difference," she said. "There has to be some attitude
adjustment because attitudes are so unconscionable."

   The seminar, called "Sexual Orientation in the Workplace: The Lavender
Ceiling," was the second in a series of human resource seminars on managing
diversity co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Cultural Diversity Division of the
American Society for Training and Development.

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