There's certainly no shortage of transgender people who have experienced discrimination in the workplace.  I am one of them.

In Dec 2008 I filed a claim with our state's human rights department.  About a year and a half later they returned the decision "Lack of Substantial Evidence."  I was pissed!  If you disagree with the decision you can file a "Request For Review" within 30 days.  I did and the legal department there vacated the LoSE decision and reopened the case. 

Then the whole thing started all over.  It brought back a lot of negative emotions and it was draining but I felt the evidence I submitted was substantial enough to get a ruling in my favor.  About another year later I found I was wrong when I received another LoSE letter.

I was again allowed to file another RFR.  As I thought about what I would submit, those old emotions began to stir again.  Someone get me the Tums!  Julie saw what I was going through and offered that maybe I shouldn't put myself through this whole thing again.  A friend of ours suggested I just let it go.

As part of the RFR process I called my therapist and asked what she said to the investigator in the earlier investigation.  She was probably the most important and most credible witness I had.  She said she never got the chance.  Neither did Julie, who personally witnessed some of what I was claiming.

I told my therapist if I could remain unemotional I would be fine but it was really hard.  I loved my job, they seemed to love what I was doing and compensated me well.  Thinking what I lost after I transitioned takes a toll on me.  But she encouraged me to keep going and said from what she has learned the Human Rights Dept typically rules in favor of the employer the first two rounds.  And she felt the third time I'd be taken more seriously.

So I went ahead and prepared my second RFR.  They limit it to 30 pages and I needed every bit of that.  The attorney blood I got from my father, grandfather and great-grandfather came bubbling up and I went after their incompetence, failure to thoroughly investigate and tendency to ignore what I said and believe everything my ex-employer said.

When I submitted the RFR I felt I had proven my case but I have seen such prejudice from the Department I didn't know how they would find.

Today I received the letter and they are vacating the earlier LoSE decision and re-opening the case.  Maybe the third time will be a charm.  I should know within a year.

I really considered just giving up but something inside me couldn't.  Now I'm glad I didn't.

That is another feel good story.

Best of luck Julie.

Thanks spacial.

I know at first look this seems to be all about me but I see it much differently from that.  I know many trans friends who get beat up by the mainstream and just go someplace else, hoping to find an accepting place.  I think we all need to fight back.  That way these bullies will think twice before they try to push us around again.

While I have no idea of the outcome of this case, I do know my ex-employer is paying legal fees and that has to be costing them lot$$$ of money.  I'm sure once they look back, after this is all over, they will see it probably would have been a lot cheaper to try to settle with me than keep fighting this.  Even if I get nothing out of it, it will have cost my ex-employer in legal fees and time lost at work.  I'm sure my former CEO has experienced more than one angry moment too.  All the while this has cost me nothing more than time and a little anxiety.  But if I win... priceless!

Had they done the right thing from the start, this would have never happened.  Maybe next time they will think before they shoot.

I think transwomen get dismissed more often than the general population unfortunately, but sometimes if we persist then they finally look at us more fairly.

That's good news, Julie. I'm stubborn also in the fact that if I believe I'm right about something I'll go the extra mile to prove my point.

Gennee

Julie:

It is the strength of people like you that will eventually break the cycle of discrimination we face.  Thank you for your diligence and fortitude.

I don't know that I would have been as strong in your place.

Give 'em hell, girl!  I think they don't know what kind of bitch their fighting!  If nothing else you have cost them your weight in Tums!  And who knows, maybe even your weight in gold!

-Sandy

I'm proud of you young lady. Hang in there and keep going.
We need more people like you in the workforce everywhere.

Miss Julie DO NOT GIVE UP! represent all of us and keep going and make them hear what you have to say! discrimination is discrimination. I'm rooting for you! ^_^

Wish years ago that I had the strength to stand up for myself in the workplace, even if I still would've ended up leaving there, at least I could've shown them their error in mistreating me. There it was okay to be gay, one young guy was, and it was okay for him to express himself with yellow hair, but I was told that I was to not wear any colored nail polish, was not allowed to have any hair color that wasn't natural, as well as a few other bogus things I can't recall, and I agreed just to keep my job. though over time gradually I let those things slip back in. I was the best stocker they had, working overnights, busting my butt, pretty much taking care of the whole store, would knock out in excess of 200 boxes a night, plus deal with other projects such as feature areas, endcaps, isle layout changes, and many morning managers would come in and act like I did nothing all night, what, I'm the only person aside from one other working, and they're expecting me to do the work of a whole crew.

I had a pretty coat stolen once, one I had for two weeks, that's it, told them about it, they just told me that I should've had it in my locker if it was important to me, what, a winter coat in a little tiny locker. They did nothing. Another time I was sexually harrassed by another employee, touched inappropriately, I was asked to write out a report, plus they talked with this other employee, which supposely needed a translator as his english they said wasn't very good, which was complete bull because he talked just fine to me, and all they did was warn him to stay away from me, that's it, afterall, no witnesses, but they acted like I was asking for it anyway, questioning the way I was dressed and my nails and whatnot. And then another guy calling me a ->-bleeped-<-got, which I let get to me, which even though he started the trouble, I got more in trouble for just because I cursed him out, he was a new employee, I had been there for that store at the time for about 6 years. I was betrayed once by another overnight employee that I thought was a friend, she said some things at one point that made me look bad, and pretty much every other coworker that I had worked with at some point or other all those years pretty much steered clear of me, or acted so awkward around me that I had no closeness with any of them anymore, that I was really alone in doing my work, not much interaction, no more occasional conversations, unless negative, after I had come out at work as living and dressing as a woman.

Eventually because of the abusiveness of how the managers treated me I just ended up walking out the door one day, enough was enough, just couldn't take it anymore, would have to start new elsewhere where they don't know of my whole transition. I know I should have fought back more, but I felt it was a losing battle, and one that I know I wasn't yet ready for. I'm glad for those that do have the strength to fight back though, its people like you that make a difference. Maybe it just takes me longer, at least I haven't quit at life, and am doing things differently with it than I have in the past, trying to change things for the better instead of just dreaming for those things to happen.

I've had issues with work all my life I'm hoping that things will only get better now! Now that I'm protected by law (well theoretically, we'll see how that works!). >___<

if you got the energy I say stick it to the man! Make em pay! rawr!

Illinois is one of only a handful of states that has transgender discrimination protection on the law books.  But that's not as bad as it sounds for the rest of the states. 

Imagine this scenario: You transition from male to female.  Suddenly you find you went from hero to zero.  But your state offers no trans protections.  What do you do?  You can do what Diane Schroer did and file a discrimination claim against them as a female.  That's a violation of the federal law under Title VII.  The defense was brilliant and it worked.  Schroer was awarded almost $500K.

BUT... it took several years and a ton of perseverance.  I've read most of the motions and subsequent rulings.  Having a team of attorneys and being faced with that ain't so bad.  But if you're doing it alone, that's tough.  And that's what employers count on.  They figure the cost of an attorney for them, relative to their income, is a drop in the bucket compared to the same for you.  And, at least here in Illinois, they know the tax payer funded section of the government that is supposed to protect employees from being discriminated against will drop the ball several times along the way in the hopes the claimant will give up.

In the last RFR I sent them I blasted the investigator and proved his incompetence.  In the public sector, any company that got a complaint like that from a customer probably would have fired the guy.  But I'm sure his job his quite safe and he probably got a pat on the back for doing what he did.  Then they handed him the next case for him to fumble.

So going into something like this, you have to steel yourself against the government bureaucracy and inevitable incompetence.  It's actually not incompetence, it's planned.  If I knew this was what I had in store from the get go, it would have been a lot less stressful because I would have expected them to find against me in the early rounds. 

From here on out, I'll keep going until they rule correctly or say their decision against me is final.

Then I'm going to my local congress person and senator.  And I will also file a case in court.  "I have only begun to fight!" 

A win for one of us is a win for all of us.

Julie:

You've got my total respect, hon.  Pit Bull Julie rocks the house.  Way to go.

Everybody?  Check it out.  THIS is how you do it.  Do NOT let them bully you.  My motto is:

"If it's gonna be, it's up to me!"

Sometimes, it seems like it's you against the world.  Be diplomatic.  Be decent.  Be persistent.

Heck, yes!

   Lacey