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Workplace Harassment of Gender Variant People

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  • Workplace Harassment of Gender Variant People An example from the United States Stephenne Lynne Rhodes.

     

    The number of people who are transitioning to live in a gender role other than that assigned at birth is growing very rapidly. Recent data indicates that the number
    transitioning is more than doubling every four years and increasing numbers of organizations are presented with a transsexual person coming out in their workforce.
    Discrimination against these people in the workplace is against the law in many jurisdictions and many companies explicitly forbid their persecution in policy statements and staff manuals. However, despite these apparent protections, and notwithstanding their professed policy of care, many corporations appear to
    take no practical action to prevent the workplace becoming so unpleasant for such employees that they feel unable to continue; most commonly they just leave but
    suicide is not unknown. Nowhere is this lack of concern more apparent than amongst employers of the blue collar staff, where uninformed Human Resources
    Departments, irresponsible management and hostile coworkers conspire to make life unbearable for these people.

     

    In a recent survey of some 2700 transsexual people in Europe almost no people who believed themselves to belong to the blue collar sector were not in any
    gainful employment. This can be seen clearly in the chart showing the employment situation of those who responded to the survey. Of those that were working
    none felt able to continue in their trade as artisans or skilled laborers and at best were scratching a living doing ad-hoc lower-paid work.

     

    Meet Penny (not her real name) a striking 6'1'' woman. She is very skilled Heating Ventilation and Air conditioning (HVAC) engineer and licensed electrician.
    Penny lives by herself in an immaculately kept apartment tastefully decorated with many examples of her own glasswork and tubs of flowering cyclamen.
    She is vivacious and fun to be with. However, at birth Penny was assigned as a boy and after many years struggling with the torment of gender identity misalignment
    she finally sought medical help. After hormone treatment and gender confirmation surgery she has legally transitioned to the female role. She is now at
    peace with herself and would be very happy apart from. . . her workplace.


    Penny works for a subsidiary of a very well known international environmental services company that portrays itself as an equal opportunity employer and
    according to the corporate webpage “above all supportive” of its employees. Penny was a well regarded member of the company’s workforce, until she
    announced her intention to transition to the her preferred gender. Since then she has experienced nothing but outright hostility from management and coworkers.
    She arranged to have her major surgery during in preplanned vacation time so as not to disrupt her work responsibilities. When she returned to work, with her legal
    change of name the Human Resources Department were extremely antagonistic and went so far as to suggest that her dressing in gender appropriate clothing
    was against corporate rules. In a subsequent medical examination the company doctor insisted upon inspecting her genitals, a blatant invasion of privacy and quite
    irrelevant to her ability to carry out her duties.


    Since her transition Penny believes her supervisors have delighted in allocating her dirty and unpleasant work well beneath her proven and acknowledged skills.
    Both her supervisors and coworkers still insist upon addressing her by a male name and using masculine pronouns when referring to her, despite having been
    informed how very hurtful she finds this is and her provision of proof of her legal status. Not one person in the whole plant has offered her any commiseration or
    offered support—she is quite alone and feels very vulnerable. The company’s Code of Business Conduct states that it:

     

    “. . . is committed to providing equal opportunity and fair treatment to all individuals on the basis of merit, without discrimination because
    of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status or other characteristics protected by law. . . .“


    Despite these reassuring words the company has not provided appropriate changing and bathroom facilities for female operational staff (it seems that their policy is not to hire women). Although Penny is given access to the supervisors’ facilities this has been done in such a way as to maximize her discomfort. The company’s code of conduct continues by saying that it: ”. . . prohibits harassment in any form, whether physical or verbal and whether committed by supervisors, non-supervisory personnel, or non-employees. Harassment may include, but is not limited to, offensive sexual flirtations, unwanted sexual advances or propositions, verbal abuse, sexually or racially degrading words. . . “ Although gender variance is not listed per se in the manual it seems likely that the
    drafters intended to decry all forms of employee harassment. Yet every day and all day Penny suffers hurtful forms of address, lewd comments about her genitals
    and body and criticism of her dress which in fact is discrete and in excellent taste. Penny is firmly convinced that the company is looking for any excuse to fire
    her and a couple of baseless threats have already been made. She is very careful not to give her supervisors the slightest excuse to take action against her, being
    scrupulous about her time keeping and undertaking every task, however demeaning, willingly and well. She works in a dangerous environment and it is always a
    concern that verbal harassment can turn nasty and real physical harm result. How can a well managed company, that professes extremely high corporate
    ideals, allow a skilled employee to be so mistreated and be forced to work in an atmosphere of perpetual fear and loathing? Why waste the skills of a well
    paid worker who asks for nothing more than to be treated with simple respect, diligently fulfills her contract of employment and wishes to be allowed to live her
    life at peace with herself? It must be assumed that the corporate officers do not overtly condone this torture but they must accept culpability as they have taken no
    action to prevent it.


    Part of the problem may lie in the process the company’s code offers the employee as a remedy   ”If you have any complaints about discrimination or harassment, report such conduct to your supervisor or the Operating Unit Corporate Compliance Officer or the Human Resources Department for your Operating Unit.“

     

    Penny is required to report her problems to the very people who have made their distaste for her so apparent. Penny understands that the harassment she receives
    is both illegal and contrary to published company policy but she can see no course of action which will not leave her in an even worse situation. Her union is also
    disinclined to help.   Clearly either the training concerning gender variant people being provided to the Human Resources Department, management and workers is insufficient, or the penalties for ignoring it are too slight. That a pleasant charming and able individual should be subject to such institutionalized mistreatment is a terrible indictment of any company’s culture.   The blatant disregard of corporate non-discrimination policies in operational units is unfortunately very common in many organizations. Gender variant people are particularly vulnerable as they have to struggle with a enormous number of medical, legal, financial, social and family problems. By marginalizing the employee, permitting if not overtly encouraging persistent bullying and demanding
    unreasonable standards the companies know that even the most stalwart person will eventually give up and leave of their own volition. Penny is unusually resilient
    but it is an open question how much malicious treatment she will prove able to withstand.

    Cristine Jennifer Shye.  B/L.  B/Acc
      January 25, 2015 2:44 PM GMT
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  • We had exactly the same problems in the NHS as Consultant Medical Staff. I have now retired, and girls who are in the NHS state that things are changing for Nurses, but what about Doctors?

     

    When I was appointed, Managers doffed their caps at the powerful 'Cabals' of Doctors who ran what are now Trusts- seemingly for their own financial benefit and convenience. Their secretive committees for Discretionary Awards (pensionable) wer frequently conducted in their Private Consulting Rooms- wel away from Lay members of the Hospital Committees and Management.

     

    A token female usually received a token award, an ethnic and possibly another creed (limited), possibly to deflect criticism. Those who were blocked from advancement and awards were Roman Catholics, Women, Afro-caribbeans, Gays, Trans-genders and Trans-sexuals, Communists and Left-wingers; and, finally, to my amazement, those who made a significant contribution to the advancement of Medicine ( to take 2 examples, Professor Calbert Phillips- persecuted and driven out of Manchester to Edinburgh, and Sir Harold Ridley, who met their full wrath and fury for inventing the cataract lens implant, and who had to wait until 94 when they were all dead to gain his honour.

     

    I was victimised at Manchester Royal for being Trans-sexual in my 20s, and the Cabal even managed to turn the girls in various deprtments against me. Their attempts to have me dismissed for one concocted 'crime' after another failed, dismally; and I had the pleasure of out-living all of these White, Womanising,( mainly Orange-men descendant ) Protestant, Clubbable, Golfing, cigar smoking and whisky swilling ex Public Schoolboys, who ruined the North West 'Trusts predecessors' for so long.

     

    All has now changed and we are starting to live in more enlightened times. I am so glad that some of the girls I have come to know recently are integrating well and with respect and compassion in what is starting to be (again) a caring service.

      January 25, 2015 4:07 PM GMT
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  • Reading through your very well written piece Crissie the one thing that stands out to me is strength. Not the strength and power of some big company but , the strength of one individual woman.

     

    Who ever Penny is she is one amazing woman. She has been put through hell but stood her ground. She is more powerfull than the whole company and all its management and employee's put together.

     

    Take care and thank you. xxxxx

    This post was edited by Former Member at January 25, 2015 9:10 PM GMT
      January 25, 2015 8:50 PM GMT
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