Gender Reassignment in United Kingdom

Definition of Gender Reassignment

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Gender Reassignment : A physiological and ultimately surgical procedure, under medical supervision, for the purpose of changing a person’s sexual characteristics. The process is undertaken by *transsexuals (estimated to number some 5000 in the UK). Initially discrimination in the workplace with respect to a person’s sexual orientation or transsexualism was outside the ambit of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (See sex discrimination). The definition of sex within that Act referred to discrimination on grounds of biological gender and hence covered discrimination only between men and women. As a result of a series of test cases taken before both the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights, the UK Sex Discrimination Act must now be construed to include both sexual orientation and transsexualism within its definition. However with respect to transsexualism, as gender reassignment is an ongoing process, it was necessary to introduce supporting regulations, to clarify the protections to be given at the workplace to a transsexual undergoing this process. The Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999 bring UK law into line with the decision of the European Court of Justice in P v S and Cornwall County Council 1996, the case in which discrimination on grounds of gender reassignment was ruled to be contrary to European Community law.

The Regulations provide protection against discrimination by employers at all stages of the reassignment process, starting when an individual indicates an intention to begin reassignment. The Regulations also cover recruitment procedures, vocational training, and discrimination with respect to pay (See equal pay). The Sex Discrimination Act as amended by the Regulations outlaws direct discrimination and provides for employees who are absent from work to undergo treatment to be treated no less favourably than they would be if the absence was due to sickness or personal injury. The protection is extended to postoperative treatment on a transsexual’s return to work. A defence to a claim of unlawful treatment is also provided in relation to the employment in question, if being a man or woman is a genuine occupational qualification for the job. This could arise, for example, if an employee recruited to a sex-specific post begins the gender reassignment process, or if the job involves the holder of the post to perform intimate physical body searches, or if the nature or location of the establishment makes it impracticable for the holder of the job to live elsewhere than on the premises provided by the employer and the issue of decency and privacy must be taken into consideration.

The Department for Work and Pensions (formerly Employment) has produced a guide to the implementation of these Regulations. It offers further assistance to employers on such issues as: whether or not an employee should be redeployed following treatment, the amount of time off necessary for surgical procedures, and the expected point or phase of change of name and personal details and the required amendments to records and systems. Further assistance given relates to confidentiality issues: informing line managers, colleagues, and clients. The guide also offers advice on agreeing a procedure between the employee and employer regarding a changing in dress code and agreeing when individuals will start using single-sex facilities at the workplace in their new gender.