Bloomberg BNA reports this afternoon that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed two transgender discrimination lawsuits yesterday, the agency's first ever against private-sector employers. One is against a Michigan funeral home, and the other is against a medical clinic in Lakeland, Florida. Both cases appear to involve straightforward discrimination allegations: employees who presented as males when hired were terminated after they disclosed that they would be going through the gender reassignment process and began presenting as females. The Michigan lawsuit also alleges that men received clothing allowances, while women did not.
The Bloomberg BNA article notes that Michigan is in the Sixth Circuit and Florida is in the Eleventh, and both of these circuits have already held that gender identity discrimination is a type of sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII. Tommy Eden posted last week about a gender-identity case from Georgia (also in the Eleventh Circuit) in which the employer won summary judgment.
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This is Constangy’s flagship law blog, founded in 2010 by Robin Shea, who is chief legal editor and a regular contributor. This nationally recognized blog also features posts from other Constangy attorneys in the areas of immigration, labor relations, and sports law, keeping HR professionals and employers informed about the latest legal trends.
