Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Saks Settles Trans Discrimination Lawsuit With Leyth Jamal

85264186-suit-is-displayed-in-the-window-of-a-saks-fifth-avenueSaks, y'all need to admit you were wrong, pay the trans lady and move on.
-TransGriot, January 9, 2015


After Saks Fifth Avenue tried to disgustingly claim while defending itself from a discrimination lawsuit filed by trans woman Leyth Jamal they had a 'right to discriminate ' against trans people, tried to use their HRC Corporate Equality Index score to try to justify it, they finally settled out of court for an undisclosed amount after taking a PR and legal beating.

Jamal filed the lawsuit after she was harassed, discriminated against and fired from the Houston Galleria Saks location in December 2012 after filing an EEOC complaint.

Jamal’s lawsuit claimed that her coworkers at the store  referred to her as a man and forced her to use the men’s bathroom. A manager suggested that she make her appearance more masculine and “separate her home life from work life.”

After Saks initially tried to assert that trans people weren't covered under Title VII (yeah, we are)  and getting pushback from legal briefs filed by New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Center For Lesbian Rights and the Department of Justice on that point, they relented 

Jamal's lawyers Jillian Weiss and Mitchell Katine filed a stipulation of dismissal of the case with prejudice, and announced the case had been amicably settled.

Discrimination costs you money, business people.  

And FYI to our HERO haters here in H-town, once again, here's a documented example of anti-trans discrimination occurring in our city limits, and it's why the HERO needs to be implemented without delay.

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