Irish Trans Woman Wins Payout

A transgender woman from Dublin, who was ordered by her employer to dress as a man for client meetings, has been awarded over €35,000 by Ireland’s Equality Tribunal.

Louise Hannon — who worked part-time for First Direct Logistics until January of 2007, when she took a full-time position — said she told her employers about her true identity in 2006. But once she legally changed her name to Louise in March 20007, she said, a pattern of discrimination began.

According to a story published on Independent.ie, Hannon’s boss told her “to work for another three months as a male and then she could begin to come to work dressed as a woman, but would have to change back to a man when meeting clients.” She was also asked not to use the women’s restroom.

Hannon was then allegedly asked to work from home for a few months and was eventually told that her presence at the office “created a bad atmosphere.”

Angela Kerins, chairperson for the Equality Tribunal, which ruled that Hannon had suffered discrimination and constructive dismissal, said the decision was groundbreaking. "Transsexual people are born into a society which is not structured to cater for their own identity," she said. "The journey undertaken by transsexual people to recognise their own identity, as being different from their assigned identity, involves a process and decision-making that is both courageous and beyond the capacity of many to fully appreciate.”

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