Today's link is from KGO TV, the ABC affiliate in San Francisco, which reports that a transgender IT analyst has filed a lawsuit under California's recently enacted law against her employer, Parsons Brinckerhoff, one of the world's largest engineering and construction management organizations. That law, AB 1400, went into effect on January 1, 2006. While California courts had previously ruled that the statewide civil rights act's references to sex and sexual orientation included transgender people, the new law made this inclusion explicit. This affected all California companies, including the 110 Fortune 500 companies headquartered there. This could also affect millions in Parsons Brinckerhoff government contracts if discrimination is proven or admitted. Some jurisdictions, such as San Francisco, have laws stating that violation of anti-discrimination laws constitute a breach of contract.The way in which the scenario played out at Parsons Brinckerhoff is instructive. The employee had worked there for years, but did not reveal her long-standing plans to transition. She gave a week's notice before she began using a different name and wearing a different hairstyle and clothing. A supervisor told her she was violating the firm's dress code and sent her home, saying the firm had "issues." She was allowed to return a week later, but claims she was harassed by co-workers for a year, complaining about an employee who asked to see her breasts, being "bumped" in hallways, and being called 'he' or 'it." She says management did nothing to address her complaints, instead telling her she could stay as a part-time employee with a cut in salary and a demotion, or she would be terminated in three months. The lawsuit asks for the company to compensate not only her but others like her.
Parsons Brinckerhoff has not responded to the HRC Corporate Equality Index survey since the survey's inception in 2002
