Employee Gender change

What Issues Should An Employer Anticipate When An Employee Changes Gender?

http://www.tgender.net/taw/

QUESTION:

One of our supervisors just informed me that he is planning a transition from male to female, and would like our company's support in making the change. He is a very valued employee, and I want to be helpful -- but I have no idea how. Are there any legal requirements in this situation? What kinds of issues should I plan for -- and how should I handle them?

ANSWER:

Dealing with transgendered employees can be a tough issue for employers, in part because this is a relatively new area of law. Like you, many employers want to be supportive, but don't know how to go about it. And certainly, many employers are fearful of the legal issues that might come up when an employee transitions from one sex to the other.

The legal landscape regarding transgendered employees is in flux. A handful of states and more than fifty cities and counties have enacted laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity -- an issue that generally comes up when an employee identifies as one gender, but was born into (or is perceived as belonging to) the other. An employee doesn't have to have undergone sex change surgery in order to be protected by these laws. If your state or locality has a gender identity statute, contact your state or local labor department for information on what the law requires.

A variety of practical issues can arise when an employee transitions from one gender to the other. Basic documents -- such as ID badges, beneficiary forms, and employee rosters -- will have to be updated to reflect the employee's changed gender. You will also have to figure out which restroom the employee should use, how to inform coworkers of the change, and whether some workplace training is in order, among other things.

For more information, check out the website of Transgender at Work, http://www.tgender.net/taw/. It offers lots of information geared specifically towards employers, and focuses on helping employers and employees work together to create a supportive workplace environment.

Transgendered people suffer tremendous discrimination in employment.  Indeed, it's part of our culture that if you admit to cross-dressing, or plan to change your sex, you'll be automatically fired.  But all that is changing.

More and more companies are understanding of transgendered people. White collar employers, universities, and government branches large enough to have a Human Resources department are often understanding of a transsexual who must transition. In many cases, the transition can take place while keeping the same job. Cross dressers can often be open about who they are.

Purpose

The Transgender at Work (TAW) project is a focal point for addressing workplace issues for the transgendered. TAW provides resources for innovative employers who want to set their company employment policies to help their transgendered employees to be at their most productive, without spending energy hiding an important part of themselves and pretending to be something they are not.

Transgender at Work (TAW) focuses on voluntary cooperation between employers and employees. While civil rights laws are important to understand, and provide useful examples of language, advocacy for laws is outside the scope of TAW.

TAW EO Policy Primer

We know that gender-variant people want equal rights.  But what about employers?  Why should an employer care about transgendered employees, anyway?

This section is for employers.  What's in it for the bottom line of the business, anyway?

• Should your company address gender discrimination in your EO policy?
• What alternatives do you have for EO policy language?
• Are you writing an HR policy to show how a transgender employee can transition to a new gender on the job? TAW has put together a list of resources to help.

Why do businesses want to treat everyone fairly?

We know that gender-variant people want equal rights.  But what about employers?  Why should an employer care about transgendered employees, anyway?

What's in it for the bottom line of the business, anyway?

Advantages to Employers

Your human resources.  Staff.   Workers.  Collected knowledge and experience.  People are one of your most valuable assets.  Finding the best and the brightest can be difficult.  Retaining people in whom you've made an investment is important.  The cost to find and hire, and train a new employee can be several months salary in some businesses.  You don't want to waste money by losing valuable resources or ignoring good potential employees.

Productivity

You want your employees to be at their maximum productivity.  If they have to hide a part of themselves, they spend energy keeping a secret.  Employees who can be honest about who they are can put their full energy into their job.  This is why many companies prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, permitting them to be open about their lives.  For the same reason, an employee who has to spend energy appearing to be a man, when their true gender identity is a woman, is less productive than an employee who can freely be herself. Successful companies are progressive companies. The corporate culture that leads to success is the same culture that leads to diverse employee populations.  Corporate Diversity programs help ensure this diversity.  Successful companies emphasize diversity.

Talent pool

Give yourself access to every population of talented employees.  If you decide that you won't hire a gay man, or a lesbian, or a transsexual, you're limiting your choices.  To be competitive in today's fast-paced business world, you must make full use of every resource you have.  This includes gender-variant employees, customers, and suppliers.

Loyalty

Companies that assure their gender-variant employees they will be treated fairly experience an increase in loyalty.  A employee who can transition on the job, or who can dress in the way they are most comfortable, will feel great about their employer!  He or she will usually want to stay with the company.  The good feelings will create extra energy to put into their job.

Recruiting

The best employees have many choices of employers.  They can choose the best jobs.  Your organization will be more attractive to diverse employees if they know that company policy encourages them to be themselves.  Any minority group will value an assurance that they will be valued and not discriminated against.  Gender variant employees, like other minorities, will prefer to work for employers with an EO policy that includes them.

Gender Inclusive Language

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered (GLBT) people make up a large segment of the population. All people have the rights to be who they are, to be able to be open about themselves in the workplace, and to be treated with the same acceptance and respect due all individuals. Policies to support inclusiveness and prohibit discrimination need language that will include everyone. "Sexual Orientation" is not enough, as it only protects gay people who can pass as straight. It is necessary to include gender language if the entire GLBT community is to be included.

An Equal Opportunity statement of nondiscrimination and nonharassment of Transgendered employees is vital. Most transgendered employees are afraid to come out, in fear they will be fired or harassed if their transgender status becomes known. Many people have been fired for being transgendered, fueling this fear.

It is not sufficient to merely protect "sexual orientation." This language protects who you love, but it fails to protect what you look like, how you act, or how you dress. Such characteristics fall under the category of "gender expression."

Explicit Language

The most direct approach is to identify the clause that protects race, religion, and hopefully sexual orientation, and to add gender-inclusive language next to "sexual orientation". Such language may say "gender expression" or "gender identity". Lucent Technologies set the standard for this approach, using the inclusive language "gender identity, characteristics, or expression." This language needs a set of definitions to be meaningful. This approach is recommended if you are working with a very supportive group and do not face any significant opposition.

Other organizations use the term "gender identity."  This language may protect only transsexuals and not protect cross dressers, feminine men, or masculine women. "Gender expression" is a more inclusive term, protecting what you look like, how you act, and how you dress. "Gender characteristics" protects biological attributes such as body shape, chromosomes, voice pitch, and body hair. If only one of these three terms must be chosen, we recommend "gender expression" because it protects that which is most visible to other people, and thus what is most likely to trigger discrimination.  

With a suitable definition, any term can be used. This approach was taken by the City of West Hollywood, CA. The Ordinance added gender identity as a protected category for provisions prohibiting discrimination. Gender Identity is defined as: "Gender Identity refers to a person's actual or perceived sex, and includes a person's identity, appearance, or behavior, whether or not that identity, appearance, or behavior is different from the traditionally associated with the person's sex at birth."

The consensus in the Intersexual community is that, for workplace nondiscrimination purposes, "gender expression" is sufficient to protect intersexuals. For this reason, we are not stressing the inclusion of the "gender characteristics" language.

Alternatives to Explicit Gender Inclusive Language

In some situations, there are obstacles to including plain trans-inclusive language in a nondiscrimination policy. In this situation, an indirect method can have the same effect without the visibility of explicit language. With a suitable definition, any term can be used to forbid discrimination. Two approaches sometimes used are to define sexual orientation to include gender variance, or to define gender to be more inclusive than just being another word for sex For more information and examples, see our language alternatives page.

Recommendation

Transgender at Work recommends that the language "gender identity or expression" be included in EO nondiscrimination policies, with equal status to "sexual orientation." This language is the most inclusive, and will ensure that no one will suffer discrimination due to any aspect of their gender.