Transgender Employee Awarded £47,500
Transgender employees have for the most part presented quite a quandary for employers. For instance, whilst they are in the transitional period and living as the opposite sex what facilities should they use. This and other difficult questions are what employers are faced with concerning transgender employees.
In the case of de Souza E Souza v Primark Ms de Souza had lived as a woman for 16 years prior to her commencing employment with Primark. As Ms de Souza was still legally male her passport was in her birth name Alexander de Souza. When she presented this to her employer she advised them that she was transgender and did not want to use her birth name. It was agreed that Ms de Souza could use her current name for all purposes except for the company payroll where her legal name would have to be used.
Despite this the company used Ms de Souza’s birth name not only for payroll but also for the work rotas which lead to Ms de Souza’s gender becoming common knowledge throughout the store. As a result, she was subjected to harassment relating to her gender.
In its judgement, the Tribunal said it was ‘shocking that the respondents could not devise a way of keeping the claimant’s legal name off the core allocation sheets’ and also that the employer, ‘took no steps to ensure a confidential system was put in place. The respondents showed a complete lack of understanding from the beginning as to what was required’.
This case should be viewed as a wake-up call to all businesses to ensure that they have measures in place to protect, not only transgender employees, but also the confidentiality of its employees in general. It is prudent to have robust policies in place so that staff are fully aware of the company’s position on certain matters and what the consequences for staff are for those who breach it. Training staff is also key. In this particular case equality and diversity training. Training staff and having policies in place will prove a lot less costly!
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