Cross-Dressing in a Corporate Environment?
— A —
Let’s consider a corporate working environment.
The staff handbook makes reference to a dress code.
You can’t wear sneakers, tank-tops, etc.
However no reference is made to cross-dressing.
On Monday morning Gary comes to work in a dress.
Suppose that he is ordered to refrain from this practice.
He refuses the order and he continues to where the dress to work.
He is eventually fired for not complying with the order.
— B —
Does Gary have an actionable lawsuit against his firm?
Any thoughts on a likely outcome?
Tagged with: dress code • monday morning • sneakers • staff handbook • tank tops • working environment
Filed under: Cross Dressing
Valerie
Meg
Anybody saying that Gary has an "ironclad" lawsuit against the corporation is incorrect.
While it is true that Gary could not be fired for cross-dressing outside of work, employers are able to enforce dress codes on their property – even if those dress codes seem to discriminate on the basis of gender (ie, the recent Las Vegas cocktail waitress lawsuit where the women sued over being forced to wear makeup on the job: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-126724744.html). Where a business has a dress code, including making men and women wear dress that is typically associated with their gender, the business can enforce that dress code.
Under the current federal law, it is not illegal to be biased against transgender employees because they are not a protected class. There are certain states that offer some protections to transgendered people, such as California. However, these states are generally "at will" employment states and employers can terminate any employee that violates the dress code or for no reason at all.
Can Gary sue? Sure. Anyone can sue. Will he win? That’s a tough call, and will largely depend on the state he is in. Under the current state of the law, it is by no means a slam dunk.
Edit: Out of my element? Right. Just like on the question about prenups and child support? No, Joe B, I am quite clear on the subject matter. You need to do more research before you answer these questions as there is a big difference between firing someone for the specific act of crossdressing at work and firing someone for sexual orientation. Here are some basic pages that give an overview of the current state of the law and links to more material:
http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/articles/2506/1/Cross-dressing-at-work-isnt-protected-by-law/Page1.html#
http://www.tgender.net/taw/cd.html (see the section on dress codes)
http://www.hrc.org/issues/3458.htm.
Here’s another one: http://www.thegirlinside.com/issues/know-your-rights-an-interview-with-michael-silverman/.
http://transgenderlaw.org/employer/index.htm
Sexual orientation is not a protected class under federal law, so unless Gary lives in a state which provides that protection, he is out of luck on that regard.
However, cross dressing may not be related to sexual orientation at all. If the employee manual has a phrase about not wearing any clothing that may be "inappropriate or disruptive" to the working environment, then he will probably lose the suit (I am guessing).
Most companies will have something like that in there, to prevent someone from wearing a tie that reads "F*ck Off" or something…
Since you didn’t mention the CENTRALLY relevant item, I’ll assume Gary has no contract since most of us don’t.
Gary has no case. They absolutely can terminate his employment WITHOUT cause and to boot, he GAVE them cause.
Nonetheless, if Gary is a homosexual he’ll win a lawsuit. As was the EXPECTED result of Democrats’ "protection" demands, this has made it harder for "protected" people to get work. Since for all intents and purposes they cannot ever be fired for any reason whatsoever without "civil-rights" liability, you don’t want to hire them if you have any reasonable alternative.
yes!! this has happened before somewhere? what the dress code is for women is the same for men who want to dress like women! if you can wear a dress as a woman then you have to let men wear the same dress?? if you don’t because he is a man instead of a women than according to the courts that is sexual discremation!! because he is a man he can’t!! if he was a woman he could!! a guy worked in a office with several women! one day he came to work dressed like them and was fired for it? he went to court and won!! the boss was fired and the guy got his job back!!