Whole Foods store at night in October 2017 in Chicago. Photo: Shutterstock
A transgender woman in Washington, D.C., Ximena Navarrete, claims she was sexually harassed, raped, and generally discriminated against while working at local Whole Foods supermarkets. She has filed lawsuits against the company and its parent company, Amazon, seeking a combined $2.5 million in damages.
Navarrete, age 46, allegedly endured sexual harassment, assault, and transphobic harassment, including nonconsensual touching, name-calling, indecent exposure, and lewd gestures, her lawsuit states. Amazon has denied any wrongful conduct.
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She filled online food orders at several D.C.-area Whole Foods stores from September 20, 2020 to October 6, 2021. Even though she reportedly made it clear to the company’s Human Resources workers and store managers that she identified as a trans woman, she alleges that a manager still required her to wear a name tag containing her deadname. This, Navarrete said, led to harassment from co-workers.
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She accused one male Whole Foods employee of groping her buttocks and breasts, another of exposing his genitals to her, and another of sending her “explicit text messages and photographs of male genitals,” The Washington Blade reported. She also accused a store security guard of raping her in her home when she asked for help resolving her workplace issues.
Navarrete was eventually fired.
In April 2021, she filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the D.C. Office of Human Rights. The EEOC gave her permission to file her lawsuit in federal court. The case is being presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an appointee of former President Barack Obama.
“[Navarrete] has suffered, and continues to suffer, mental anguish and emotional distress, including but not limited to, humiliation, embarrassment, stress and anxiety, loss of self-esteem and confidence, and emotional pain and suffering, as well as physical injury, for which she is entitled to an award of compensatory damages and other relief,” her lawsuit states.
Amazon received a perfect score of 100 in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2023-2024 Corporate Equality Index, a measure of LGBTQ+-inclusive workplace policies.
The 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County ruled anti-trans discrimination as a form of sex-based discrimination forbidden by federal law. Nevertheless, nearly 50% of transgender employees have experienced workplace discrimination, compared to nearly 30% of cisgender LGB employees, according to the Williams Institute. Approximately 44% of trans employees reported experiencing verbal harassment, compared to nearly 30% of cisgender LGB employees.
The institute found that nearly half of LGBTQ+ employees aren’t out to their workplace supervisors and nearly 26% aren’t out to any of their co-workers. Out employees were three times more likely to report experiences of discrimination or harassment than closeted employees, the institute reported.
LGBTQ Nation reached out to Whole Foods for comment and this article will be updated if they respond.
