Transgender Employee States A Claim For Discrimination Under the ADA

Blatt v. Cabela Retail, ____F. Supp. 2d ____(E.D.Pa. May 18, 2017), is a major decision concerning the rights of transgender employees. The decision appears to be one of first impression.The Plaintiff alleged that she was terminated in violation of Title VII because of her sex and in violation of the ADA. We focus here on the ADA because the court refused to grant the employer's motion to dismiss and held that the Plaintiff plausibly stated a cause of action.

Of significance is that the ADA EXCLUDES from protection under the statute, "gender identity disorder" and that was the basis of the employer's motion to dismiss. The court, however, read this term narrowly and stated that it refers to condition of identifying with a different gender and that Congress did not intend to exclude from coverage disabling conditions that persons who identify with a different gender may have that substantially limits major life activities of interacting with others, reproducing and occupational functioning.

A New York Law Journal article about this decision is available here.