Much like litigations relating to transgender issues, gender identity is a budding area of employment discrimination, the court has ruled that discriminating based on a person’s gender identity is illegal under Title VII.
In Mitchell v. Axcan Scandipharm, Inc., an employee was diagnosed with a gender identity disorder and began presenting at work as a female after having presented herself as a male during the first four years of her employment. As a result, she was terminated. The employer moved to dismiss.
The Court denied the employer’s motion to dismiss, holding that because the complaint alleged facts showing that her failure to conform to the gender stereotypes of how a man should look and behave were the catalyst of her termination.
The Court further held that she has sufficiently pleaded claims of gender discrimination. The Parris v. Keystone Foods court held that a chicken processing facility had fired an employee based on her “gender non-conformity. The Court recognized that the employees claims were covered under Title VII’s sex discrimination prohibitions.
While not explicitly a protected class, courts have routinely found ways to protect gender identity based on an individual’s preference.
Derek Smith
5 min. read
Derek Smith