A TRANSSEXUAL has been awarded more than €35,000 compensation by the Equality Tribunal for discrimination on gender and disability grounds.
Louise Hannon brought a case against Dublin firm First Direct Logistics, with the support of the Equality Authority, in which she alleged she had been constructively dismissed when she revealed her real gender identity to her employer and sought to live according to it in her workplace.
She was diagnosed with gender identity disorder while working as a business development manager with the company, following some years in other roles. On March 5th, 2007, she arranged to change her name by deed poll.
She arrived into the office the next day in her female identity and asked to have her e-mail address changed. She was told to complete her sales using her male identity.
Subsequently the company director told her she could come to the office dressed as a woman but should change into male clothing and use a male identity when seeing clients. She found this very difficult to comply with.
In April she was asked to work from home until a new office was ready. She agreed, expecting to return to the office after a month, but by the end of July still had not been permitted to work in the office. She decided she had no alternative but to leave her employment, doing so at the end of July.
The company said it had attempted to provide support and that Ms Hannon’s productivity had dramatically decreased in early 2007.
The equality officer said in her ruling that transsexualism was a recognised medical condition, which was treated by a combination of hormone therapy, surgery in some cases and “real-life experience” in the new gender, including life at work.
She found the company had little if any understanding that the gender-transition process was the appropriate treatment for the complainant’s condition and that an employer had a duty to obtain enough knowledge of an employee’s disability to ensure he or she does not discriminate against the employee.
The equality officer found requesting Ms Hannon to switch between a male and female role was discriminatory and awarded Ms Hannon €35,422.71.
A spokesman for the company said: “Louise was a popular and respected member of staff of a very small organisation . . . We regret we failed to provide the full level of support and understanding required in these circumstances and we wish Louise well in the future.”