Transgender woman, who was training to become operations manager at the restaurant, claims in her lawsuit that she was wrongfully fired after being harassed for several months by her co-workers for being transgender. The transgender woman also says that when she told the upper management about the discrimination, the Franchise Owner reportedly responded by saying that it should be an honor that with her being a transgender woman that someone liked her enough to hit on her. According to the lawsuit, the management also told the other employees at the fast-food restaurant about her gender identity against her will.
The 29-year-old transgender woman, Erin Taylor, reportedly told NBC News that she has filed a lawsuit against Chick-fil-A restaurant, claiming she was wrongfully fired after being harassed for 4 months by her co-workers for being transgender. In Aug. 2021, the transgender woman started working at the fast-food restaurant. Taylor, who reportedly transitioned about three years ago, said that she was training to become operations manager at the restaurant. According to the lawsuit, she was verbally harassed by a co-worker who reportedly made comments about her.
The transgender woman then reportedly the incident to her supervisor. After several complaints, Taylor was directed to the franchise owner of the Chick-fil-A location, the lawsuit states. According to the lawsuit, the Franchise Owner reportedly responded by saying that it should be an honor that with Taylor being a transgender woman that someone liked her enough to hit on her. The management also told the interested employee about her gender identity against her will.
Although the franchise owner said that he would look into the situation, he explained that if the harassment continued they would have to focus more on the person claiming the harassment to see if there is an issue. The management did nothing to stop the harassment, and its actions of disclosing that Taylor is transgender escalated the harassment. The co-worker, who had initially made advances toward her, continued working at the same shift, at the same restaurant with the transgender woman and was never reprimanded for his actions toward her, the lawsuit states.
After her co-workers learned she was transgender, they reportedly started purposely misgendering her. The co-worker, who had initially made advances toward her, started making violent and transphobic threats, the lawsuit states. In Nov. 2021, the transgender woman was fired from the fast-food restaurant. Her employer reportedly told her that she was fired because she left the job while on the clock, the lawsuit states.
As word continued to spread about the woman being transgender, other employees at the fast-food restaurant started taunting them with homophobic comments. Several employees began to intentionally misgender Taylor and claimed that they had an odor due to her taking hormones to aid in their transition, when it was proven to be a faulty pipeline at the restaurant.
Taylor claims in her lawsuit that she was being harassed by her supervisor and was given permission to leave. She filed a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission that month. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia in late June, per reports.