Reply To: Discrimination in the Workplace, Has it affected you?

[Kate Justine]

You have rights. This might help:

https://transequality.org/know-your-rights/employment-general

What Laws Protect Me?

<p style=”box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10.5px;”>The following laws and policies offer protection for transgender people in employment (Dec 2019):</p>

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits sex discrimination in employment. Numerous federal courts and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have agreed that discrimination because an employee or job applicant is transgender or gender non-conforming constitutes sex discrimination. Title VII applies to any employer with at least 15 employees. This means that complaints of anti-transgender job discrimination anywhere in the country can be filed with the EEOC.
• State and local laws in many jurisdictions also explicitly prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or expression. As of July 2015, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington State, Utah, and Puerto Rico and over 200 cities and counties have such explicit laws. These laws are enforced by state and local civil or human rights agencies.
• State or local government employees are protected by state constitutions and laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in employment. Additionally, executive orders in Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia explicitly prohibit gender identity discrimination in state employment.
• Federal civilian employees have additional protections and different procedures for complaints. The federal government has issued guidelines for transgender workers. Please refer to NCTE’s resource, “Transgender Federal Employees: Your Workplace Rights” for more information.
• Executive Order 13672 (updating Executive Order 11246) prohibits anti-LGBT discrimination by federal contractors. If you work for a company that contracts with the federal government, you are protected.