supporters rallied Sunday in front of a J. Crew store in
discrimination against transgender job applicants.
have filed a job-discrimination complaint against J. Crew with the New York
State Attorney Generals Office.
changes its policies, it can expect more protests," said Karina Claudio-Betancout, organizer at Make
the Road
the investigation and organized the event.
investigated employment discrimination at 24 retail companies in
J. Crew as a violator of the New York City Human Rights Law. When equally
qualified job applicants applied for positions at J. Crew, non-transgender
applicants were consistently hired over transgender applicants, the study
found.
of the transgender employment testers, Julian Brolaski, applied at the
store. He was treated brusquely, told to fill out an application and was never
called. His testing partner, Leigh Cambre, who entered the store a few minutes
later, described a very different experience: "I filled out an
application, was interviewed on the spot and offered a job soon after." A
separate pair of testers documented a similar situation.
transgender testers said the study results confirmed what they had suspected
from personal experience, but had never been able to prove as individual job
applicants.
called on J. Crew to address discrimination by adopting a non-discrimination
policy and including it in all job listings and applications, training
employees about non-discrimination policies and practices, and ensuring that
transgender and gender non-conforming people are free from harassment on the
job.
today, the report titled Transgender Need Not Apply: a Report on Gender
Identity Job Discrimination also found a 42 percent net rate of discrimination
for transgender job applicants, a high figure in comparison to rates documented
for other populations such as African-Americans and the elderly. Companies at
which at least one non-transgender tester was hired over a transgender tester
included Nine West, Brookstone, Kenneth Cole, and DSW. Only one employer,
Virgin Megastore, hired a transgender tester over a non-transgender tester. In
addition, 49 percent of transgender workers surveyed reported that they have
never been offered a job in the time that they have lived openly as
transgender.
rally and news conference was held in front of the J. Crew store,
between 16th and 17th streets.