The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is suing five related entities operating Culver’s restaurants in Michigan, alleging a transgender employee of the regional fast food chain and three of his co-workers were fired for reporting anti-trans harassment.
According to an October 25 EEOC press release, Asher Lucas, a transgender Culver’s shift manager was subjected to repeated harassment by two other employees, including being misgendered, deadnamed, and having his birth name publicized without his consent.
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The EEOC alleges that three of Lucas’ colleagues witnessed a fellow employee, described in the press release as “hostile toward gay and transgender people,” make anti-trans comments and misgender Lucas. The anti-LGBTQ+ employee was reportedly “emboldened to obtain Lucas’ birth name, deadname him, and reveal his birth name to co-workers without his consent” when the chain’s general manager took no action after Lucas and his three co-workers reported the initial harassment.
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Lucas and his colleagues again reported the anti-LGBTQ+ co-worker’s “escalating offensive conduct” to their general manager. Instead of investigating their complaint, the EEOC says, Culver’s fired Lucas and his three co-workers a day after they lodged their second complaint.
In its lawsuit, the EEOC charges that the five entities that operate Culver’s locations in Michigan violated Lucas’ and his fellow employees’ rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by discriminating against Lucas as a transgender man and by retaliating against all four fired employees for complaining about the alleged anti-trans harassment.
“Employers must protect all employees, including transgender employees, from sex-based harassment at work,” Omar Weaver, assistant regional attorney in the EEOC’s Detroit office, said in a statement. “When employees complain of harassment, whether directed at them or witnessed by them, employers cannot fire those employees because of their complaints.”
The suit was filed late last month after the EEOC first attempted to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process, according to the press release.
As them notes, the lawsuit follows new guidance issued by the EEOC earlier this year stating that employers who consistently misgender employees or deny them access to sex-segregated facilities, like bathrooms, that align with their gender identity can be charged with workplace harassment.
In January, the EEOC settled a lawsuit against a New York pizzeria which it alleged had consistently subjected an employee to anti-trans harassment, forcing him to resign. As part of the settlement, T.C. Wheelers Bar & Pizzeria agreed to pay the transgender former employee $25,000, and to require all owners and employees to undergo training on federal anti-discrimination employment laws.
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