The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) made history recently by filing its first lawsuits alleging sex discrimination against transgender individuals.
The EEOC says Michigan-based RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes, Inc. and Florida-based Lakeland Eye Clinic discriminated against two transgender workers when they fired them for not conforming to “the employer’s gender-based expectations,” according to statements from the EEOC. Both complaints were brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, on a gender-stereotyping theory.
Although the suits are the first of their kind to be filed by the EEOC, transgender individuals have been filing suits under state discrimination laws for several years. Earlier this year President Obama made it illegal for federal contractors to discriminate based on gender identity; however, the EEOC’s position that transgender individuals are protected by Title VII’s gender discrimination provisions is not clear on the face of Title VII and, until now, has not been tested in court.
The Employment Lawyers 