Duane Morris partner Jonathan A. Segal of the Philadelphia office discusses business reasons for Pennsylvania employers to institute or refine workplace policies inclusive of LGBT workers, in light of the recent district court decision allowing same-sex marriage in the commonwealth.

Pennsylvania employers already dealt with the impact of same-sex marriage on their companies last year, after the Supreme Court ruled the federal Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional and opened the door to federal benefits for such couples.

Now that same-sex marriage has become legal in the Keystone State, businesses here would be wise to revisit the more subtle issues that define a company's culture, experts say.

The experts' bottom line: There is no good business case not to have policies inclusive of LGBT workers, especially in a state like Pennsylvania, which struggles to retain talent.

Jonathan A. Segal, a Philadelphia attorney with the Pennsylvania State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management, said the issue of workplace diversity should not be merely an egalitarian notion. "It's also a business imperative," he said. "Any business that excludes a portion of the population is excluding talent."

To read more of Mr. Segal's comments, please visit the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website.