Transgender Woman Discriminated Against by Cabela’s

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A decision was made back in March by the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that Cabela’s discriminated against a transgender employee, according to the Philadelphia Gay News and ThinkProgress.

Cabela’s has been involved in the fight for seven years and it is against Kate Lynn Blatt. Blatt won a similar ruling from the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission in 2010. Blatt was found to have probably discriminated against due to her treatment. One of the reasons was that she was not allowed in the women’s restroom.

  

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Blatt was hired by Cabela’s in the middle of her transition and fought with management to simply wear a female uniform when at work. She also had to fight with management to acquire a nametag that spelled her name correctly. Blatt even presented her managers with a court order stating her legal name is Kate Lynn Blatt and that she is female in gender. Despite this, her managers still refused to allow her to use the ladies’ room. She would only be allowed to do so when she provided medical documents of her  “anatomically appropriate gender.”

Blatt was ordered to use a unisex restroom on a different floor on the other side of the showroom. Blatt said the unisex restroom was “non-hygienic and unsanitary,” and it also made her feel like she was “on parade.”

The EEOC ruled that it was unlawful for Cabela’s to ask about Blatt’s medical history or “to subject her to any medical or visual examination as a pre-condition to use the women’s restroom. Requiring this type of documentation is a form of discrimination.”
Last month, a right-to-sue letter was issued by the EEOC and her attorney is preparing an official lawsuit in federal court right now. Blatt is still searching for employment and she has been “surviving, but certainly not thrivin.”

There are no statewide protections for LGBT workers in Pennsylvania for discrimination.