The employer and employee should discuss the expected timescale of the medical and surgical procedures including any requirements for time off, bearing in mind appointments will often involve travel. Another point to discuss is the expected point or phase of change of name, personal details and social gender and how this will impact on, for example, the use of male/female toilets, changing rooms, dress codes etc.
The latter is an issue which has caused many problems in the workplace, so it is best for the employer and employee to agree the point at which the use of toilets and other single sex facilities should change from one sex to the other.
An appropriate point would be at the time of social gender change. It is important to remember that it is not acceptable to insist on a transsexual employee using separate facilities, for example a disabled toilet, once operating fully in their chosen gender identity, but this is considered an acceptable solution while the process is going on.
Perhaps it could be useful for the company to employ a policy for the use of toilets, for example the ladies’ facility is accessible to “all individuals identifying and living as women full-time,” and vice versa.
In addition, the employer must observe its obligations under the Data Protection Act. All references to the employee in records and systems must reflect the employee’s current name, title and sex. All certificates relating to higher education and professional qualifications should be reissued to protect the employee’s privacy.
The employer should also check whether a transsexual person is adequately covered by existing company policies regarding equal opportunities, confidentiality, harassment, allocation of resources (such as office space and equipment), access to development (such as training, secondment, internal job vacancies and promotions), as well as benefit arrangements such as pensions, private medical insurance, death in service and permanent health insurance. If not, the employer should take steps to ensure that the employee is adequately covered.
For further information please contact Ranjit at rdhindsa@reedsmith.com
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