A transgender woman in China, going by the name Guagua, is suing her previous employer for a second time after being fired for refusing to wear clothes of a gender she does not identify as.
Her dismissal happened in December of 2021, leading her to appeal to the local labor dispute arbitration committee, which ruled in her favor, ordering the employer to not only continue her employment until her contract’s expiration, but to also compensate her $2,000 for illegal dismissal.
Guagua, however, felt that the company did not face enough repercussions for discrimination and that courts failed to recognize her status as a transgender person in the ruling, which she argues was central to her dispute.
Liu Mingke, Guagua’s lawyer, explained how they filed two additional lawsuits with the first being based on “dispute over equal employment rights,” and the second on "dispute over general personality rights.”
A transgender woman in China has been trying to sue her previous employer for three years after being unlawfully terminated
Image credits: CzTrans (Not the actual photo)
According to the lawyer, the court denied the first filing considering the matter settled as per the previous ruling. The second filing, on the other hand, has been thoroughly ignored.
The 32-year-old started working for the state-owned company in 2019, with issues escalating once she began hormone replacement therapy in March 2021, and started wearing makeup, women’s clothes, and letting her hair grow.
Image credits: Lia Bekyan / Unsplash (Not the actual photo)
According to the South China Morning Post, Guagua’s colleagues were supportive of her actions, but management pressured her to conform and “rectify” her gender expression in accordance with the company’s policies.
The outlet explains how at one point she had to resort to using bathrooms outside of the company’s premises, which was considered the final straw, leading to her unlawful termination and her being labeled as "selfish" and a troublemaker by the company.
Guagua’s case isn’t the only one of its kind in recent years, with courts in many parts of the country ruling in favor of transgender individuals being fired over their identity
Image credits: freepik (Not the actual photo)
Guagua’s case isn’t the first one of its kind for the Asian country, as in 2016, a transgender man won a similar case of unfair dismissal after being fired from a health center in Guiyang.
According to the health center, the employee was fired due to refusing to use the uniform corresponding to their birth gender.
Image credits: LinkedIn Sales Solutions / freepik (Not the actual photo)
The situation was handled in a similar way, with courts ruling in favor of the employee but not due to discrimination and without mentioning them using their preferred names in legal paperwork.
Regardless, the man said he was “quite happy” with the outcome but that “legislation in the field requires greater attention.”
Image credits: freepik (Not the actual photo)
Progress on the matter is still being made, however, as in 2020, a Beijing court ruled in favor of a transgender woman who was dismissed after taking time off for gender reassignment surgery.
Image credits: Lia Bekyan / freepik (Not the actual photo)
The court emphasized the importance of "respecting diverse lifestyles and safeguarding the dignity of transgender individuals," a precedent-setting statement that raised awareness at the court level for anti-discrimination legislation and practices.