Federal Court: Title VII Does Not Protect the Transgendered

[suzifrommd]

Federal Court: Title VII Does Not Protect the Transgendered

By John Hyman

http://www.workforce.com/blogs/3-the-practical-employer/post/20966-federal-court-title-vii-does-not-protect-the-transgendered

Now, a federal court in Texas has expressly held that Title VII's prohibition against sex discrimination does not extend to a transgender employee. Eure v. The Sage Corp. (W.D. Tex. 11/19/14) (h/t: Eric Meyer) involves a truck-driving instructor born a female but who presents as a male. Eure alleged that her employer's National Project Director, upon seeing her with a student, said, "What is that and who hired that," adding that Sage did not hire "cross genders."

The court, however, dismissed Eure's sex-discrimination claim, concluding that Title VII's prohibition against sex discrimination does not cover transgender employees.

[Tysilio]

I hope he appeals.

[arimoose]

Yeah that deserves a huge appeal, up the ladder.

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[Colleen M]

I hope he appeals.

The San Antonio district court goes to the Fifth Circuit, and that circuit is so conservative they're still trying to figure out how they feel about fire.  An appeal is not a horrible idea, but the expectations should be kept low for the next level. 

[ThePhoenix]

There are some activists, including some very well known names, who have put out the word that Title VII protects trans* people because of the Macy v. Holder decision.  But the problem with that is courts are higher than the administrative agencies like the EEOC.  This means that no court is require to comply with the EEOC decision.  This decision illustrates the point.  Trans* people (and lawyers for trans* people) should be aware of that and think twice about the cases we bring to the courts.  Too many decisions like this and Macy v. Holder will no longer be good law.

That, by the way, is probably part of why the EEOC chose to file the two recent lawsuits that it did.  If memory serves, the two recent trans* discrimination suits were filed in courts that fall under the sixth and eleventh circuits, both of which have already indicated their agreement with Macy v. Holder.  So as a matter of good strategy, go to those courts first, get rulings that are supportive, then you go to other courts like the Fifth Circuit where there's more of a question and you have some prior rulings to cite. 

[ImagineKate]

Memory doesn't serve me correctly right now but if there are other circuits that rule differently this could punt it to SCOTUS after circuit court appeals are exhausted.