“It’s no longer acceptable to repeatedly say [in the workplace] that an individual resembles a certain gender identification and ‘I’m going to continue to address you as such and I just keep forgetting.’ It’s really about being more vigilant about words and conduct.”
So says Ted Flett, an employment lawyer at Zubas Flett law in Toronto, after the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal awarded a transgender worker $18,000 for discrimination after two co-workers disregarded the worker’s requests to use their preferred name and pronouns.
“Small employers need to be mindful of their obligations to develop policies and create a safe workplace, whether your staff count is two or 2,000,” says Flett. “So many workplaces don’t have those key fundamental pieces and they just don’t have the operational leadership to put those pieces together – they are seen as add-ons when they actually should be pretty fundamental.”
