Under federal law, employers may not discriminate against employees who are transgender or gender non-conforming. For example, an employer may not refuse to hire someone who is transitioning, treat a transgender or non-conforming employee differently, terminate an employee based on their transgender status or non-conforming gender status, or refuse to step in if coworkers harass an employee for their transgender or nonconforming gender status.
Looking Back at Bostock v. Clayton County
In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Bostock v. Clayton County, barring discrimination based on gender identity (transgender status) or sexual orientation. The details of the case, which go to the very heart of transgender discrimination, involved an employee who informed their employer that they wanted to live and work as a female instead of as the male the employer had hired, eventually resulting in the employee’s termination. Subsequently the case wound its way to the U.S. Supreme Court who ruled that discriminating against an employee because he or she is transgender is a form of sex discrimination, prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Right Act. Henceforth, employers may not discriminate against employees who are transgender or gender non-conforming or risk legal action.
Gender Harassment may include teasing, jokes, dead naming, slurs and threats from coworkers aimed at transgender workmates
- *Recently an EEOC gender discrimination claim was brought against a popular hamburger chain after employees were fired (retaliated against) for complaining about the continued harassment of a transgender shift manager including anti-tran comments, dead naming, and repeated misgendering
- Requiring an employee to use a restroom facility that does not conform to their gender identity
- * The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) obtained an $115,000 settlement payment on behalf of a transgender employee who had been barred from using an employer’s women’s restroom. In an effort to accommodate the transgender employee in that case, the employer had previously provided the employee with access to a gender-neutral single-occupancy restroom. That was not enough, however. According to the EEOC, transgender employees have a right to use multi-occupancy workplace restrooms that correspond to the gender with which they identify
Not addressing employees by their pronouns and gendered terms in a hostile or persistent manner indicative of harassment
- * Employee threatens to sue for discrimination after a supervisor refuses to intervene when fellow employees repeatedly misgender him (now her) after announcing he (now she) identifies as a women. When asked for help, the supervisor states he cannot force workers to use pronouns that don’t match what they see
Dress and grooming issues may arise if an employer does not allow an employee to adhere to the dress and appearance rules that apply to the gender in which the employee identifies
- * an employer was sued after imposing a female dress code on an employee identifying as male after discovering his driver’s license listed him as a female
Contact an Employment Discrimination Lawyer for Help
If you have been subject to sex based discrimination in your workplace, it is important to seek help. Contact the employment discrimination lawyers of Alan C. Olson & Associates to discuss your case today at 262-785-9606.
