Employment

[SophieKitty]

You'd think employers would be lapping up the trans/CD community due to the equal employment opportunities act, and their need for a positive public image of acceptance in the UK. Has anyone come clean with their boss, knowing that you could likely file a lawsuit if you were unfairly treated after?

I'm currently unemployed/self employed so wondering if to come clean at any future interview?

[arbon]

I'm currently unemployed/self employed so wondering if to come clean at any future interview?

I don't know about in the UK, but in the US I think it is absolutely stupid to bring up anything trans or crossdressing if you actually want to get a job

[SophieKitty]

Ah the UK is very much about being P.C and acceptance. Especially where I currently live where trans/CD woman can walk around freely whenever they like without much fear :) Over where i currently live (be moving away soon :( ). Being transgendered is just about got the same stigma as being a goth

[Tracii G]

I think if you are closeted no why bother?
If you are in transition it will be obvious.
Look at it from the employers side would you hire someone who may be disruptive to the operation of the company?
If you come out after you are employed they will have to deal with it according to the law.
To piss and moan because you don't get the job because you are trans isn't going to fly in most cases.

[linda allen]

I don't know about in the UK, but in the US I think it is absolutely stupid to bring up anything trans or crossdressing if you actually want to get a job

I agree and I doubt it's different anywhere else. Employers are looking for capable, stable people with as little baggage as possible. Crossdressing would be considered "baggage".

The only place I would bring up crossdressing is if I were applying for a job at a store that sells crossdressing supplies.

[DonnaT]

In the eyes of the law in the UK, cross dressers do not have the same legal rights with respect to employment as those deemed to be transgender/transitioning.

[Karren H]

Everything being equal... if you come clean in a pre-employment interview... chances you wont get the job.... the job market is so tight right now that anything that would detract or set you asides from someone else who may not have issues.... I had 40 people apply for a job... sorted it to the top 10 and interviewed 5.... the top two were very equal but one had some past issues that could affect his performance... Its not about what you can and can't legally do to an employee after he or she is hired..... it about getting a good well paying job in an economy that sucks!

You do what you feel you have to but if you don't have a job its hard to buy all those pretty clothes!

[natalialimapoa]

In Brazil, 80% of the transgender people are prostitutes, because they simply can't get regular jobs. Crossdressing is something too obscure here.

[suzy1]

You go for a job and the boss wants to find out if you can do it.
He then finds the man sitting on the other side of his desk starts telling him he likes to wear a dress.
At best, the boss is not interested and is beginning to feel uncomfortable. At worst you don’t get the job!

[Vickie_CDTV]

Unless they enact affirmative action or quotas for trans people (I am not suggesting that would be a good idea!), or it is a job working with trans people, the fact one is trans is not relevant at best, a liability at worse. With real unemployment in the US hovering around 15-20%, employers can be extremely picky and may not want to have to deal with the trans issues that may come up because of it. (Or, in some cases, they can farm the job out to the third world and not have to worry about employees and any of their issues in the first place.)

[sandra-leigh]

but in the US I think it is absolutely stupid to bring up anything trans or crossdressing if you actually want to get a job

Short of FFS, I am likely to continue to have a male-looking face when I eventually start going for interviews.

I expect that by then I will have changed my name legally, but I don't know if I will be able to change my legal gender (I would be able to do so if I still lived in Ontario, but the rules in Manitoba are not clear.) Mind you, unless there is Good Reason, one would not put gender (or sex) on an application in Canada; though a lot of places these days demand electronic applications and I do not know what those ask for.

Anyhow, my face will likely give away that something is up (if my voice hasn't already done so.) True, that is different than "bring up anything trans"; it is not clear, though, how to reply if the interviewer asks about your gender in response to seeing you (them bringing it up.)

But even before interviews, at the application stage, if one has changed legal names, with an obvious name gender shift, then one has the difficulty of needing to refer to past accomplishments that were in the other (e.g., male) name. I have decades of good-will built up in my field... all done under my male name. Starting over in a completely new field would be very difficult.

[reb.femme]

You go for a job and the boss wants to find out if you can do it.
He then finds the man sitting on the other side of his desk starts telling him he likes to wear a dress.
At best, the boss is not interested and is beginning to feel uncomfortable. At worst you don’t get the job!

I'm afraid Suzy has nailed it as far as this subject is concerned.

I don't care what the law states or what diversity statements a company issues. You are dealing with the average Joe or Josephine in the interview stakes and can never be sure of their real feelings. If you want to come out at work, do it after one year, when you will have UK Employment law behind you i.e. covered for wrongful dismissal etc. Companies are obliged to accommodate you once you have passed this little red line :straightface:

Rebecca

[Charlotte Haynes]

Ah the UK is very much about being P.C and acceptance. Especially where I currently live where trans/CD woman can walk around freely whenever they like without much fear :) Over where i currently live (be moving away soon :( ). Being transgendered is just about got the same stigma as being a gothWho would employ a goth, though?

[arbon]

Short of FFS, I am likely to continue to have a male-looking face when I eventually start going for interviews.

Anyhow, my face will likely give away that something is up (if my voice hasn't already done so.) True, that is different than "bring up anything trans"; it is not clear, though, how to reply if the interviewer asks about your gender in response to seeing you (them bringing it up.)

then one has the difficulty of needing to refer to past accomplishments that were in the other (e.g., male) name.

If your a woman then you are a woman, if they raise issues about your gender or past you deal with those issues at the time they come up, but don't give them a reason to nix you before you even get the slightest chance.

[Lorileah]

Who would employ a goth, though?

Mary Shelley

[Persephone]

Who would employ a goth, though?
Mary Shelley

:love:

Hugs,
Persephone.