The U.S. Department of Labor is announcing a new rule prohibiting discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation and gender identity in the federal contracting workforce.

The rule implements Executive Order (EO) 13672, which was signed by President Obama on July 21.  EO 13672 tasked the department with updating the rules implementing EO 11246 to add gender identity and sexual orientation to the classes it protects.  While 18 states, the District of Columbia and many businesses, large and small, already offer workplace protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees, July's executive order was the first federal action to ensure LGBT workplace equality in the private sector.

The rule implementing this EO will become effective 120 days after its publication in the Federal Register and will apply to federal contracts entered into or modified on or after that date.  More information is available on the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs Web site at http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/LGBT/.