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HB2 eliminates N.C. discrimination suits BY TODD LUCK THE CHRONICLE House Bill 2 (HB 2), which was passed in a spe cial one-day General Assembly session late last month, made many sweep ing changes, including pre venting state workplace discrimination lawsuits in North Carolina. HB2, which went into effect April 1, has gotten nationwide attention for its effects on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals, but its implications are broader than that. The law says there's a state policy against dis crimination based on race, religion, color, national ori gin, age, "biological sex" or handicap, but prevents any civil action in state court based ' on that. Plaintiffs can still file in federal court, but must first go through an approval process with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that can last up to six months. "A federal lawsuit can be more difficult and more expensive to file," said Harold Lloyd, an associate professor at Wake Forest School of Law. Lloyd said it seemed like the law was designed to reduce the amount of discrimination suits filed and is a major shift in state law. "It's going to create changes we cannot fully understand at this point," he said. The law also prevents local governments from issuing ordinances that superseded the state on minimum wage, payment of wages, hours of labor, benefits, leave or the well being of minors. Local governments can still con trol the wages or benefits of its own owners, but gener ally cannot place require ments on the contractors it uses. HB 2 also prevents local ordinances from going beyond state law on discrimination, which means there are now no discrimination protections for LGBT individuals in the state. According to. the Associated Press, several local governments had also added veterans as a protect ed class, which is now invalidated by HB 2. HB 2 was designed to prevent a Charlotte ordi nance protecting LGBT individuals from discrimi nation and protecting trans gender individual's ability to use the restroom of the gender they identify as. The bill says individuals can only use public rest rooms that match the gen der on their birth certifi cates, though private busi nesses and institutions can still create their own dis crimination and restroom policies. Currently there is a fed eral lawsuit by the N.C. ACLU, Lambda Legal and Equality N.C. against HB 2 on the basis that it discrim inates against LGBT indi viduals. Lloyd said that even if part of the law is struck down, its other pro visions could still stand. The law has been con demned by more than 80 corporations, including Google and Apple. Several major cities and the State of New York have banned non-essential travel of its employees to North Carolina. Several film and TV studios are also recon sidering shooting in North Carolina because of HB 2. Charlotte has already lost the production of "Crushed," a new Hulu show by Lionsgate, and a $3.6 million Paypal opera tions center that would've created more than 400 jobs. South Ward to get a new primary BY TODD LUCK THE CHRONICLE The N.C. State Board of Elections, after a nearly two hour hearing, decided on Wednesday, April 6 that a new election will be held in the South Ward. John Larson, a City Council candidate in the South Ward Democratic primary, filed a protest with the Forsyth County Board of Elections in the late afternoon on Tuesday, March 29. Larson came out just six votes behind his opponent, Carolyn Highsmith, and originally asked for a recount. Larson's protest involved 26 voters who were given the wrong ballot in the ward and other irregulari ties. The Forsyth BOE met on Friday, April 1, to con sider the motion. The BOE, with Fleming El-Amin par ticipating via conference call, voted unanimously that the complaint about the voters who were given the wrong ballot had prob able cause. "With a very close elec tion like this, it doesn't take very many irregularities to trigger a protest and have probable cause," said Board Member Stuart Russell, Russell added that it didn't reflect badly on the staff and praised new elec tion Director Tim Tsuji, who started two weeks before the primary, for his transparency. The board voted unanimously to give the state immediate juris diction in the matter since time is of the essence. One possible remedy allowed by statute - for the 26 voters who were given the incorrect ballot without the South Ward race on it to recast their ballots - would have had to have been done by two weeks after canvas, which is today. Forsyth BOE Chair Ken Raymond also said the irregularities, though they are something the BOE tries to avoid, don't reflect badly on the election over all. Larson also said he did n't believe the mistakes were malfeasance on the part of BOE staff. "Clearly it's a blip that was caught... and we have the opportunity to correct it," he said. The remedy the N.C. BOE went with was to hold a new primary. Larson said last week that if that hap pened, he hoped it would be during the June 7 Primary. Holding the pri mary again would be the only way to remedy the other parts of Larson's complaint, which alleged that voters who arrived after the polls closed got to vote. Highsmith said last week that while she sup ported her opponent's right to a recount, she disagreed with his protest. She said that there were irregulari ties, but that the BOE addressed them during can vas and she hoped would correct them in the November General Election. The Chronicle- will have more on this breaking story in next week's edi tion. The winner of the South Ward Democratic primary will face Republican Michael Tyler in November. FORSYTH COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH CELEBRATES A CENTURY OF SERVICE AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN PUBLIC HEALTH - VACCINATIONS - Vaccines are safe, effective and have saved hundreds of millions of lives since their introduction. 799 NORTH HIGHLAND AVENUE WINSTON-SALEM, NC Forsyth County DtftinmntifPuUe IUM Promoting Health. Improving Lives Have an Opinion? Let us Know lettersQwschroniclexom Saturday, April 9 ? 1 pm I for the official I Spring Football Game! ? Atkins High School, Old Greensboro Rd., Winston-Salem There will be prizes, giveaways and games. Bring 2 *' I canned goods for entry and in support of the Second Han/est Food Bank and WSSU Student Food Pantry. i - fl InkUM p ? ilTUTMJ.a ?? '. ???? Mm ? W-v'. ?
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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April 7, 2016, edition 1
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