A plaintiff was awarded close to 500K by a federal judge becuase she was rejected from a position with the Library of Congress while undergoing a gender change from a man to a woman.
The plaintiff, Diane Schroer, applied for the position of terrorism analyst job. At the time she applied she was still a man. He was offered the job. However, the offer was pulled after he made public the fact that he was changing his gender.
The ruling was for $491,190, which included payment for backpay. The employment lawyer for the Library of Congress, and the employment lawyer for the Justice Department, argued that discrimination based on transsexuality was not illegal sex discrimination under the language of the Civil Rights Act.
This should be an interesting case to follow on appeal to see if the gender identity claim holds up. Many employment lawyers in New Jersey are of the opinion that the Title VII Civil Rights Act does not protect employees that claim gender identity discrimination. In New Jersey, an employment lawyer can allege gender identity discrimination claims on behalf of the client under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.
