Workplace discrimination is not a new issue. Fortunately, it is an issue that is no longer regularly making headlines, since the Canadian Human Rights Act and, most recently, Bill C-279, a bill that would make violence against transgender people a hate crime, have ensured that all Canadians work in safe, positive environments.
However, while attitudes towards the LGBT community have become far more positive than before, it seems that some trans people are still being left out of the inclusion umbrella, particularly in the workforce. Considering all of the progress we’ve made towards inclusion of all people in the LGBT community, it’s quite surprising that there is still a lack of education and, more importantly, acceptance and understanding in some of our workplaces.
Trans Pulse, a “community-based research project that was created to respond to problems identified within Ontario trans communities regarding access to health and social services,” conducted a survey completed by 433 trans people who live, work, or receive healthcare in Ontario, to determine what the general climate was like in the workforce for trans people. Through this survey, they found that trans Ontarians who are visibly identifiable as transgender feel that their appearance leaves them vulnerable to discrimination.
They also found that “while 71 per cent of trans people have at least college or university education, about half make $15,000 per year or less,” an alarming statistic according to Jordan Zaitzow, trans health connection coordinator at Rainbow Health Ontario. “We see that discrepancy in a lot of the data,” he says about the startling information available about trans individuals in the workforce. Part of the reason for this disparity is that sometimes, due to the feeling of exclusion and discrimination, people wishing to transition leave the workforce in order to do so, then find it challenging to re-enter the workforce after they’ve transitioned.
Transgender at work
Brad Sensabaugh, IT manager at TD Bank, and trans committee lead at Pride at Work Canada, says that trans individuals may find it challenging to re-enter the workforce once they’ve left because “most trans individuals have difficulties obtaining documents in their [new] chosen name.” For example, if an individual has already completed university and has already received a diploma or a degree prior to their transition, it may become very challenging for that individual to then obtain a degree or a diploma in their new name and gender. (He himself has had challenges in the past with regards to getting his identification listed in a corresponding gender that he identified with.)
As well, he says providing potential employers with references is difficult because “when [a trans individual is] seeking employment, obviously employers are going to ask for a reference and, in many cases, that causes or forces the individual to have to come out and explain why they would be unable to provide a reference for their current name or current gender.” Fortunately for Sensabaugh, who started his transition approximately 12 years ago, while maintaining corporate employment with companies like IBM and TD Bank, his transition was a positive experience because the companies he’s worked for “understand and accommodate their trans employees to the best of their abilities, and they work with their trans employees to understand how they can improve the [work] climate.”
Kelly Worrall, a producer for Electronic Arts, is another great example of a successful transition in the workplace. She chronicles her transition—as well as her life during her transition—in her blog, Locating Kelly. In her blog, she recounts the many ups and downs faced by most people going through a transition. She often refers to her coworkers positively, as they themselves remain positive during her transition.
She speaks a lot about her “wonderful HR manager,” and their plans to meet with her boss to disclose her “transitioned status to him.” This meeting goes well, and Worrall describes the experience of coming out to her boss, as such: “The meeting…was wonderful. Air was cleared. Behaviors and sensitivities I’d exhibited were explained medically and understood. The transgendered battle for rights was discussed. Courage was noted. Plans were made to draw up further plans for how to approach transition tactically. We agreed to speak directly to the transgendered situation in real terms, rather than dance around uncomfortable terminology with linguistic acrobatics.”
Even her other co-workers show Worrall support. She speaks about one of her co-workers and friends, Christina, who says, “I’m so glad there is finally another female producer!” after Worrall comes out as a transgendered woman.
Still working on it
Despite the many examples of people with positive experiences in their workplace during their transition, there are still many people out there who encounter challenges. Zaitzow says, “even when people have done a lot of research and are very literate on what their rights are, it doesn’t always mean that the road is easy for them.”
Jillian Page, a journalist who blogs about LGBT issues, feels employers can always find a way around anti-discrimination laws if they really want to “get rid of employees.” However, Bill C-279, which passed the House of Commons in March, could help raise awareness in the workplace. She says, “just how much it will truly protect trans people, though, remains to be seen.” Despite trans individuals being protected by anti-discrimination laws in most jurisdictions in Canada, Page says, “if employers are really uncomfortable with transitioning employees, they can and do find other ways to suddenly make the trans person’s job redundant; it happens all the time.”
For companies who have yet to adopt the essential policies for trans individuals to get support, “my social-justice brain wants to tell [comapnies]: ‘You should do this, because if you don’t, you’re not a decent person. It’s discrimination.’” Says Zaitzow. “According to the Ontario Human Rights (OHR) policy that has recently been updated, it’s actually illegal for you to discriminate against your trans employees, and to not make the proper accommodation [for them]. So, I bring in the OHR as well as the legal ramifications around a company’s responsibility to accommodate their workers—and sometimes that works.” He says that, when transitioning, “you have to be a really strong advocate for yourself and know what your rights are, and know what your demands are when moving forward with transitioning in your workplace.”
For people who want to transition while remaining in the workforce, Sensabaugh advises that people ensure that their HR department also recognizes what types of support they are looking for.
“I think one of the common misconceptions that we can see now in the trans community is that if an individual identifies as trans, we may make the assumption that they are just going to immediately start hormones, and then surgery, and changing many to all things in their life—but that’s actually not the case,” he says. “For many trans people, they might identify as trans, but not pursue taking hormones or not pursue any type of surgery.”
Page suggests that people “aim for as little fuss as possible, and try to assure their bosses and colleagues that it will be business as usual.”
If things still aren’t working, however, Sensabaugh, as well as other trans individuals and advocates for trans individuals, say that people should seek the support of organizations like Pride at Work that aim to “improve the climate of inclusiveness for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-identified (LGBT) employees in the workplace.”
For employers, Sensabaugh says, “one of the biggest areas for improvement for employers, to become more open or welcoming to trans employees, would be to look at their use of gender markers. Obviously, for one, expand the applicable options between male and female to include alternative options.” The company he works for has a transition guide that he and his employer reviewed during his transition.
“Ultimately, the individual that the company has hired—that’s the individual that continues to come to work everyday and do their function,” says Sensabaugh, “regardless of how they dress or how they express their gender identity.”
Photo: VikaValter/iStock