CORRECTIONS: FEMALE EMPLOYEES - S.B. 921 & 922: COMMITTEE SUMMARY

Senate Bills 921 and 922 (as introduced 12-6-01)

Sponsor: Senator Joanne G. Emmons

Committee: Human Resources and Labor


Date Completed: 5-14-02


CONTENT


Senate Bill 921 would amend the Department of Corrections law to require the Department to assign only female employees to certain positions in prisons or camps that house female prisoners. Senate Bill 922 would amend the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to allow the Department to hire only female employees for certain positions. The bills are tie-barred.


Senate Bill 921 would require the Department of Corrections (DOC) to assign only female employees to the positions of corrections officer and resident unit officer in housing units of prisons or camps that house female prisoners. If the DOC determined that other positions in correctional facilities that house female prisoners should be performed only by female employees, the Department would have to assign only female employees to those positions.


Senate Bill 922 specifies that Section 202 of the Elliott-Larson Civil Rights Act would not prohibit the DOC from assigning only female employees to the position of corrections officer and resident unit officer in housing units of prisons or camps that house female prisoners. (Section 202 prohibits an employer from failing or refusing to hire or recruit an individual because of several prescribed individual characteristics, including an individual's sex.)


MCL 791.269b (S.B. 921) - Legislative Analyst: George Towne

Proposed MCL 37.2202b (S.B. 922)


FISCAL IMPACT


The bills would have no fiscal impact on State or local government because the Department of Corrections must fill the same number of positions and pay the same wages whether the employees in correctional facilities that house female prisoners are women or men.


- Fiscal Analyst: Bethany WicksallS0102\s921sa

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.