PEF FIGHTS DROPPING OF BIAS LANGUAGE.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: JANE GOTTLIEB Capitol bureau

ALBANY The Attorney General's Office, long a draw for gay and lesbian workers aware of its reputation as a civil rights leader, is being rapped by a state workers union for lifting anti-discrimination protections of homosexuals.

The Public Employees Federation has filed an improper practice charge against the office headed by Attorney General Dennis Vacco for removing 15-year-old language that included gays among the groups covered by civil rights policies governing hiring and firing.

Soon after taking office in January, Vacco explained that he wanted his policies to correspond with state human rights law, …