I'm a non-binary lawyer and the judgment of Taylor v Jaguar Land Rover published this week means a lot for the non-binary community. Here are the main points to take away (a thread) /1

Ms Taylor had worked at Jaguar Land Rover for 20 years as an engineer. During that time, she was subjected to repeated insults and abusive jokes at work (e.g. “not normal”). She received limited to no support from managerial teams. /2

She brought claims in (and was successful in) harassment, direct discrimination, and victimisation on the ground of gender reassignment as well as constructive dismissal. /3

Judge: “It is a systemic failure and demonstrates that the Respondent values its employees’ ability to perform their key roles far more than their personal welfare and wellbeing.” /4

In the reasons, the judge held that non-binary and gender fluid could be protected under the Equality Act 2010 (s.7, gender recognition). This means that people with gender non-confirming identities should now be protected in the work place from discrimination /5

5 warnings to employers: (1) even if you have a policy in place, if HR/managers don’t know about it, this will not be good enough /6

(2) A person’s gender in the workplace should not be patholigised. Referring someone to occupational health is not always helpful /7

(3) Using disabled toilets for a gender non-conforming person should only ever be a temporary measure and should be properly remedied ASAP /8

(4) An employer stating that someone must ‘name names’ to deal with harassment is not good enough. Singling out individual perpetrators will rarely be helpful for any party, and it must not be used as a smokescreen for employers/members of HR to hide behind. /9

(5) Industries that are more ‘traditional’ cannot be somehow exempt from having to get rid of discrimination in the workplace. The ramifications of such comments on the individual can be catastrophic and, as in the JLR’s case, similarly negative for the employer. /10

For a more in-depth discussion, please see https://bit.ly/36tY78j  /11 *END*