Transgender Employment Discrimination
There is a growing body of evidence that transgender individuals frequently experience some type of discrimination during the employment process in the United States today. Although there are only a few high-profile cases, there are a significant number of employment claims being asserted. In terms of numbers, the high was reached in 1994 when almost 92,000 discrimination charges were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Since that time, the number of discrimination cases has ranged between 75,000 and 87,000 per year. Even more significant, the number of employment discrimination lawsuits filed in federal court almost tripled between 1990 and 2000. Although not as well documented, constitutional claims against public sector employers also have increased dramatically in recent years. These employment-related claims -- raising such important issues as privacy and equal protection rights -- have forced human resource management generalists to become minor constitutional scholars as they struggle to ensure that personnel policies and decisions follow the dictates of the U.S. Constitution. This paper introduces the public sector human resource manager to the legal landscape where the personnel function now must operate. The first section provides a broad overview of the significant statutory laws governing the human resource management function, focusing on the federal discrimination laws that regulate public sector employment. The second section analyzes the important constitutional issues that bear on the public sector personnel function. The final sections provide a discussion of these issues and recommendations for practitioners.
Table of Contents
Introduction
History of the Law
Issue Synopsis
Background and Significance
Procedures: Current enforcement methodologies
Results: Case analysis and study
Discussion -- overall assessment of law or regulations
Recommendations
Introduction
The word transgender is an umbrella term that includes individuals whose gender identity and expression (in other words, their internal and external sense of being female, male, or neither) is not aligned with their anatomical sex (in other words, the anatomical composition of their XX and XY chromosomes) that are naturally assigned to them at birth (Singh, Hays & Watson, 2011). Within this broad umbrella term are a number of diverse subgroups of individuals who self-identify using a wide range of terms, including "MTF" ("male-to-female" which means in the transition from male to female), FTM (likewise, "female-to-male" are those people who are transitioning from female to male), transsexual (securing surgery and/or hormones), gender-queer (not identifying with the labels of "male" or "female"), and a number of others as well (Singh et al., 2001). The term can also include those who engage in part-time behaviors reflective of the opposite sex. For instance, Lee (2011) advises that, "Transgender people live part-time or full-time as members of the other gender [and include] anyone whose identity, appearance, or behavior falls outside of conventional gender norms. . . . However, not everyone whose appearance or behavior is gender-atypical will identify as a transgender person" (p. 27).
Because of this wide range of gender diversity within the transgender community, there remains a fundamental lack of understanding on the part of U.S. society concerning these individuals, often resulting in transphobia and transprejudice (Singh et al., 2011). These types of phobias are caused by a lack of understanding of the basic mechanisms that are involved. For instance, according to Storrow (2002), "The traditional view, the sexed body -- one's inside -- is immutable, whereas gender identity -- one's outside -- is mutable. Yet for the transgendered person, the sexed body -- one's outside -- is regarded as mutable while one's gendered identity -- one's inside -- is experienced as immutable)" (p. 131).
Complicating matters even further for human resource practitioners in the dynamic nature of the law and regulations concerning the administration and adjudication of transgender employment discrimination cases. Furthermore, there is a growing body of evidence that indicates transgender individuals frequently experience discrimination at some point during the employment process. In this environment, identifying opportunities to reduce employment discrimination against transgender individuals and providing human resource practitioners with an overview of the controlling legislation and relevant case law represents a timely and valuable enterprise as discussed further below.
History of the Law
Immediately following the end of the Civil War and again in 1957 and 1964, the United States has enacted a series of civil rights acts that have affected the American workplace in fundamental ways. Of particular interest to this study is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which is perhaps the best known of all the federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. According to Black's Law Dictionary, the Civil...
In fact, the argument could easily be made that individuals with transgender tendencies who do not pursue gender reassignment procedures are more prone to chronic depression and to other natural consequences of their repressed feelings about their true identities that could potentially affect their ability to fulfill their vocational obligations optimally (O'Neil, et al. 2008). Conversely, the evidence strongly supports the conclusion that transgender individuals who undergo the sex
Employment Discrimination Advocacy Advocacy groups exist in a few different forms, some that work on federal issues, and others that are more focused on state issues. States have the right to pass laws that offer protections that go beyond the federal laws -- the Civil Rights Act is the baseline federal standard. As an example, the federal policy on sexual orientation as a protected class relies largely on EEOC rulings, as it
Discrimination Against Transgendered People Gender & Sexuality In many wester societies and cultures, the gender and sexual spectrums are narrow. One can be male or female, not neither, not both, and not something in between. One can be masculine or feminine, not neither, not both, and not something in between. These are typically the mainstream beliefs regarding sexual and gender identity. The fact is, in more countries around the world, people are
Many of the gaps in protection, such as afforded under Supreme Court precedent to members of suspect classes have since been strengthened by various acts of Congress, such as those in connection with employment discrimination against disabled workers, and those over 45 years of age (Edwards, Wallenberg, & Lineberry, 2008). Undoubtedly, employment (and other forms of) discrimination against members of suspect classifications still occur even today; however, whereas in
Another area of discrimination within the LGBT community is with regard to the transgendered subset vs. The larger gay community. Societal oppression against transgendered individuals has been documented in the scholarly literature for some time now (Carroll, Gilroy, & Ryan, 2002; Lev, 2004; Pepper and Lorah, 2008). However, even within the generally defined group labeled transgendered, there are subgroup: MTF, transitioning from male to female; FTM, transitioning from female to
Representative X: As healthcare legislation continues to be debated in the House and Senate, I would like to express my support for the continuation of one, significant policy that was instituted under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), namely the idea that young people under the age of 26 should be permitted to remain on their family's health insurance policies. The current generation of young people is graduating with more college debt
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now