Shake Shack must pay trans worker after boss made him ‘explain’ his gender to coworkers
Management at a Shake Shack location in California told a transgender worker he’d have to “explain his gender to co-workers” who kept misgendering him, state officials say.
For that, the company now owes him $20,000, according to the state’s Civil Rights Department.
Though the case did not go to court, the settlement resolves the “former employee’s complaint of discrimination, harassment and retaliation based on gender identity and gender expression,” the civil rights agency said in a Feb. 13 news release.
The employee worked at the Oakland Shake Shack location for only one month, the release said. During that time, he was “repeatedly misgendered by co-workers,” and when he complained to management, they “told him repeatedly that he would have to explain his gender to co-workers rather than rely on management to correct discriminatory behavior.”
Frustrated and fed up by enduring the ongoing misgendering, he opted to leave the company.
“California law prohibits intentional misgendering in the workplace,” Civil Rights Department Director Kevin Kish said in the release. “Intentional misgendering and other forms of discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression can be stressful and traumatic. CRD appreciates Shake Shack’s acknowledgment of its responsibility to provide a discrimination-free environment to its workforce.”
In addition to the $20,000, Shake Shack also must “update its policies relating to retaliation, harassment, discrimination, and bullying … (and) provide additional training about discrimination based on gender identity and expression to managers and staff,” and report any and “all complaints of gender identity and gender expression discrimination or harassment from the Bay Area locations” to the Civil Rights Department for one full year.
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