Employer to Pay $115,000 Settlement For Not Allowing Transgender to Use ‘Correct’ Restroom

Big Bucks for Transgender Discrimination Suit

Britney Austin, of Phoenix, Arizona, announced to her employer that she was “transitioning” to become a woman. No sex reassignment surgery had been performed, but she insisted that she be allowed to use the women’s restroom, but the company rejected that demand. Of course, if she was permitted to use the women’s restroom, female employees would have appropriately been able to file a complaint and perhaps even charge a hostile work environment or sexual assault, since Ms. Austin was biologically still a man.

Somehow, though, the courts held for Ms. Austin and did not address the impossible situation she had presented. The company also denied health insurance coverage for transition related care. Which leads to the question of whether such care is simply elective and should be denied.

Like my young student, would it have been discriminatory to deny medical services to attach a tail to her because she “felt” she was a dog? Of course not, so why, if a man decides he wants to be a woman, should the public have to support such a psychosis? Ms. Austin was welcome to wear women’s clothes and makeup, alter her voice, and do whatever else she wanted to do to conform to her self-determined identity, but why should anyone else have to pay for and accommodate a condition that at best could be a temporary or mistaken condition, as happened with my little student?

However, we live in a litigious world, and the government is determined to accept and support interest groups that are politically powerful and who spend significant capital for demand their position, as is the case with the LGBT lobby, even when it is completely illogical. And so we find that Ms. Austin (not sure if she has “transitioned” yet, which simply means she will adopt physical manifestations that are opposite to those she was born with), successfully bludgeoned her company into submission along with the help of the federal government.

One wonders what will happen if Ms. Austin goes through with the “transition” surgery, only to find out later that she made a mistake. Will she then demand that we pay for an “undo?” Fortunately, my little student did not live in this day and age, or she might be running around today with a tail and pointy ears. Here are more details on this outrageous case.

A national check-printing company will pay a transgender woman $115,000, plus issue her a personal apology and change its policies for transgender employees, under a settlement agreement approved by a federal judge in Minnesota on Wednesday.

Under the consent decree, Deluxe Financial Services, Inc. denies that it violated Title VII or that it treated Austin unlawfully, but has agreed to take several steps to improve the work climate for transgender employees.

Represented by private attorneys, Austin was backed in federal court by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency charged with investigating complaints of employment discrimination. In their court filings, the EEOC and Austin argued Deluxe Financial Services, Inc. illegally discriminated against her in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Austin also said the company denied her medically necessary care under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

While the settlement does not establish precedent in other cases, it reflects the EEOC’s ongoing efforts to advance its 2012 decision finding that transgender discrimination is illegal as a form of sex discrimination under Title VII. While the decision is not binding on courts, it is binding on federal agencies and is being applied by the EEOC in its role investigating and seeking resolution of employment discrimination complaints.

Beyond a cash settlement, the Minnesota-based company provides other concessions in the agreement. Among them, Deluxe agreed to remove all transgender exclusions in its health care plan and let transgender employees to use restrooms “commensurate with their gender identity.”

Source: buzzfeed.com

Photo: Minneapolis Courthouse