Transgender Workers Face Many Obstacles in the Workplace

People’s gender, gender identification, race, age does not affect their ability to do their jobs in California. However, despite this fact, there are many employers who seem to think it does and discriminate against various classes of individuals based on this belief. This is illegal though and there many different laws protecting employees from discrimination. These laws include transgender individuals as well, which is a group that faces gender harassment, discrimination and high unemployment rates.

According to a recent report, transgender individuals face double the rate of unemployment as the rest of the population. Nine out of ten transgender employees also state that they have endured harassment in the workplace. In addition to the harassment almost half of the transgender individuals were not hired when they applied, fired once they had a job or faced other negative actions while working based on the fact that they were transgender.

These are very startling statistics and demonstrate the importance of protecting these individuals rights in the workplace. Even though it is common practice to discriminate and harass transgender individuals it is still illegal. If an employer does discriminate against transgender individuals, the employee may be entitled to compensation depending on the results of the discrimination or harassment. This compensation could include back pay and other economic damages as well as non-economic damages such as emotional distress.

The statistics are clear that there is an issue with discrimination and harassment of transgender people in California. These people have rights just like other protected classes though and could receive compensation for the damages based on the discrimination and harassment. It is important for people to understand their rights and to receive the compensation they deserve. Experienced attorneys understand this and may be able to guide one through it.