Politics
Trans worker wins $50K in settlement over job bias
McCreery finds relief under determination that Title VII covers trans employees
Cori McCreery won a $50,000 settlement from her former employer after she was terminated for being transgender (Photo courtesy of Lambda Legal).
A transgender victim of workplace discrimination in South Dakota has won the maximum possible amount of $50,000 in damages as the result of a settlement she reached with her former employer.
Cori McCreery, 29, worked as a store clerk for the local grocery chain known as Don’s Valley Market in Rapid Valley, S.D. Although she was promoted in 2010, she was terminated after she announced she would transition. Lambda Legal filed suit on her behalf in March 2012.
The settlement, announced by Lambda on Monday, was backed by the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission and includes $50,000, which is the maximum statutory amount for a business with fewer than 100 employees.
Additionally, the settlement includes public notice on the EEOC website, public notice on the workplace bulletin board, a mandatory policy in the workplace on workplace protections, a yearly three-hour all-staff mandatory training on workplace protections, as well as a letter of apology and letter of recommendation for McCreery.
Dru Levasseur, Lambda’s transgender rights project director, said the settlement is “a strong statement” from the EEOC that transgender workplace discrimination won’t be tolerated.
“The days of firing people on the basis of their gender identity or gender expression have passed,” Levasseur said. “The EEOC has demonstrated clear support, and we anticipate more victories for transgender and gender nonconforming people.”
Julie Schmid, acting director of the EEOC’s Minneapolis Area Office, which handled the investigation, said employers must realize anti-trans bias in the workplace is a liability.
“Employers need to be made aware that their personal myths, fears, and stereotypes about gender identity can subject them to liability if they act upon them in an employment setting,” Schmid said.
According to Lambda, McCreery was initially given assurances she’d have job security after she announced she’d transition, but was swiftly fired after being told she was “making other employees uncomfortable” and the company had a “7 million dollar investment to protect.”
Cori McCreery, who now works for a company that scores 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, said she’s “so incredibly thrilled” with the decision.
“This gives me hope,” McCreery said. “The day I was fired, I had no idea what I would do. I now feel a sense of closure and can focus on my future. No one should be fired just because of who they are.”
Don Turner, owner of Don’s Valley Market, told the Washington Blade he’ll comply with the terms of the settlement, but declined further comment.
Lambda filed suit on behalf of McCreery in March 2012 on the basis that transgender workplace discrimination amounted to gender discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The next month in April 2012, the EEOC ruled transgender discrimination was indeed prohibited under current law as the result of another case, Macy v. Holder. That laid the groundwork for a settlement forinMcCreery’s case.
Chai Feldblum, the lesbian EEOC commissioner credited with leading the way for the Macy decision, also responded to the McCreery settlement.
“Individuals need to be treated on their merits,” Feldblum said. “I am glad that EEOC staff was available to help this hard-working individual.”
The first two transgender victims of workplace bias who publicly announced they won relief under this interpretation of the law are Mia Macy, the plaintiff in the Macy case, as well as another transgender employee in Maryland whose named wasn’t publicly disclosed.
Congress
Congress passes ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ with massive cuts to health insurance coverage
Roughly 1.8 million LGBTQ Americans rely on Medicaid
The “Big, Beautiful Bill” heads to President Donald Trump’s desk following the vote by the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday, which saw two nays from GOP members and unified opposition from the entire Democratic caucus.
To partially offset the cost of tax breaks that disproportionately favor the wealthy, the bill contains massive cuts to Medicaid and social safety net programs like food assistance for the poor while adding a projected $3.3 billion to the deficit.
Policy wise, the signature legislation of Trump’s second term rolls back clean energy tax credits passed under the Biden-Harris administration while beefing up funding for defense and border security.
Roughly 13 percent of LGBTQ adults in the U.S., about 1.8 million people, rely on Medicaid as their primary health insurer, compared to seven percent of non-LGBTQ adults, according to the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute think tank on sexual orientation and gender identities.
In total, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the cuts will cause more than 10 million Americans to lose their coverage under Medicaid and anywhere from three to five million to lose their care under Affordable Care Act marketplace plans.
A number of Republicans in the House and Senate opposed the bill reasoning that they might face political consequences for taking away access to healthcare for, particularly, low-income Americans who rely on Medicaid. Poorer voters flocked to Trump in last year’s presidential election, exit polls show.
A provision that would have blocked the use of federal funds to reimburse medical care for transgender youth was blocked by the Senate Parliamentarian and ultimately struck from the legislation — reportedly after the first trans member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) and the first lesbian U.S. senator, Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), shored up unified opposition to the proposal among Congressional Democrats.
Congress
Ritchie Torres says he is unlikely to run for NY governor
One poll showed gay Democratic congressman nearly tied with Kathy Hochul
Gay Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres of New York is unlikely to challenge New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in the state’s next gubernatorial race, he said during an appearance Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“I’m unlikely to run for governor,” he said. ““I feel like the assault that we’ve seen on the social safety net in the Bronx is so unprecedented. It’s so overwhelming that I’m going to keep my focus on Washington, D.C.”
Torres and Hochul were nearly tied in a poll this spring of likely Democratic voters in New York City, fueling speculation that the congressman might run. A Siena College poll, however, found Hochul leading with a wider margin.
Back in D.C., the congressman and his colleagues are unified in their opposition to President Donald Trump’s signature legislation, the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which heads back to the House after passing the Senate by one vote this week.
To pay for tax cuts that disproportionately advantage the ultra-wealthy and large corporations, the president and Congressional Republicans have proposed massive cuts to Medicaid and other social programs.
A provision in the Senate version of the bill that would have blocked the use of federal funds to reimburse medical care for transgender youth was blocked by the Senate Parliamentarian and ultimately struck from the legislation, reportedly after pressure from transgender U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) and lesbian U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).
Torres on “Morning Joe” said, “The so-called Big Beautiful Bill represents a betrayal of the working people of America and nowhere more so than in the Bronx,” adding, “It’s going to destabilize every health care provider, every hospital.”
Congress
House Democrats oppose Bessent’s removal of SOGI from discrimination complaint forms
Congressional Equality Caucus sharply criticized move
A letter issued last week by a group of House Democrats objects to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s removal of sexual orientation and gender identity as bases for sex discrimination complaints in several Equal Employment Opportunity forms.
Bessent, who is gay, is the highest ranking openly LGBTQ official in American history and the second out Cabinet member next to Pete Buttigieg, who served as transportation secretary during the Biden-Harris administration.
The signatories to the letter include a few out members of Congress, Congressional Equality Caucus chair and co-chairs Mark Takano (Calif.), Ritchie Torres (N.Y.), and Becca Balint (Vt.), along with U.S. Reps. Nikema Williams (Ga.), Hank Johnson (Ga.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill.), Delia Ramirez (Ill.), Joyce Beatty (Ohio), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), and Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas).
The letter explains the “critical role” played by the EEO given the strictures and limits on how federal employees can find recourse for unlawful workplace discrimination — namely, without the ability to file complaints directly with the Employment Opportunity Commission or otherwise engage with the agency unless the complainant “appeal[s] an agency’s decision following the agency’s investigation or request[s] a hearing before an administrative judge.”
“Your attempt to remove ‘gender identity’ and ‘sexual orientation’ as bases for sex discrimination complaints in numerous Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) forms will create unnecessary hurdles to employees filing EEO complaints and undermine enforcement of federal employee’s nondiscrimination protections,” the members wrote in their letter.
They further explain the legal basis behind LGBTQ inclusive nondiscrimination protections for federal employees in the EEOC’s decisions in Macy v. Holder (2012) and Baldwin v. Foxx (2015) and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020).
“It appears that these changes may be an attempt by the department to dissuade employees from reporting gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination,” the lawmakers wrote. “Without forms clearly enumerating gender identity and sexual orientation as forms of sex discrimination, the average employee who experiences these forms of discrimination may see these forms and not realize that the discrimination they experienced was unlawful and something that they can report and seek recourse for.”
“A more alarming view would be that the department no longer plans to fulfill its legal obligations to investigate complaints of gender identity and sexual orientation and ensure its
employees are working in an environment free from these forms of discrimination,” they added.
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