- Bryan Dickenson and Bill Sugg
As you may already have heard if you have a Facebook account, gay Dallas attorney Rob Wiley is organizing a rally outside the AT&T store on Oak Lawn Avenue on Saturday to draw attention to the plight of his clients, Bryan Dickenson and Bill Sugg. Dickenson, who’s worked for AT&T for the last 12 years, is being denied the same benefits that would be granted to a married heterosexual employee under the Family Medical Leave Act. This is despite AT&T’s 100 percent rating on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. It’s also despite the fact that the company added 2.7 million wireless customers and posted a profit of $3.02 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009. Wiley has enlisted the help of Equality March Texas, the direct action group that put together this week’s Holocaust memorial. The rally will be from noon to 2 p.m., at 3311 Oak Lawn Ave. in Dallas. From the Facebook event page:
This is a peaceful gathering. You may bring signs, but we ask that the signs be positive (like “our families count too”) as opposed to negative signs (like “AT&T go to hell”). This is a call for change, and we believe positive signs are more likely to get Bryan his leave than negative signs.
I don’t believe they enlisted our help but I am glad to help spread the word personally and to use our organization’s member list to do that.
I am deeply disturbed by this story.
I did some research, and found a direct phone number to the office of John J. Stephens, Senior Vice President and Controller for AT&T, Inc. He is the one who signs all AT&T financial reports to the SEC.
The direct line to his office is:
(214) 757-3220.
A very nice lady answered the phone and I explained to her my upset over this issue and stated I’d cancel my AT&T service. She took down Mr. Dickenson’s name, looked up this news story online at Dallas Voice, and showed a lot of empathy. PLEASE BE COURTEOUS TO HER!
I would encourage readers to call Mr. Stephen’s office and register your dissatisfaction with AT&T.
Who knows… it just might make a difference!
i called in and was very courteous and explained what was going on. the lady that answered the phone seemed very confused and didn’t seem to know what to do or say. she then told me she was answering someone else’s line. i asked her to please report my call to mr stephens and tell him of my dissatisfaction and that if this policy is not amended i would have to rethink using at&t as my carrier.
i thanked her and said goodbye. she seemed very nice but very confused.
After working with senior management at AT&T to confirm that their policy did infact include FMLA, and that the couple were already afforded FMLA as they are registered with AT&T as domestic partners. There seems to have been some confusion.
Here is the official statement. And yes I have been talking directly with my contacts at AT&T.
“AT&T regrets that there has been confusion over the administration of family leave with respect to registered domestic partners. We have taken steps to ensure that FMLA is extended to employees with registered domestic partners for the purpose of caring for the partner, regardless of the state in which the employee resides. AT&T has a long history of inclusiveness and we embrace and celebrate diversity of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation in our workforce.”