CAMARILLO : City Weighs Citing Gays in Hiring Policy

The Camarillo City Council on Wednesday will consider changing the city’s written hiring policy to specify that Camarillo does not discriminate against employees or job applicants who are gay or lesbian.

At the request of a local gay-rights group, the council will consider adding the words “sexual orientation” to the list of characteristics--including race, age and creed--that would not disqualify a person for city employment.

A new state law that took effect Jan. 1 of this year forbids employers from discriminating against gays and lesbians.

The law doesn’t require employers to post that they don’t discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, but the director of the Unity Pride Coalition of Ventura County said the group wants all of the county’s cities to include such language in their hiring policies.

Coalition Director Neil Demers-Grey said the county Board of Supervisors and all 10 cities except Camarillo, Oxnard and Moorpark have agreed to this change. Both Oxnard and Moorpark are considering it, Demers-Grey said.

Thousand Oaks’ hiring policy included language against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation before the new law, Demers-Grey said.

In Camarillo, Councilman Ken Gose has proposed that the city’s hiring policy simply include a blanket statement that “the city shall not discriminate in its employment practices in accordance with state and federal laws.”

“Every time they come up with something new not to discriminate against, then you have to change the law,” Gose said.

But Demers-Grey said employers have a responsibility to inform workers and job applicants exactly what types of discrimination are prohibited.