Kate Lynn Blatt
The Advocate reports that Kate Lynn Blatt has filed suit against Manpower, Inc., a staffing services agency, after she was let go from a temporary job in 2007 and then refused further employment through Manpower until she produced a letter from a surgeon and a photograph of her genitalia to document male-to-female surgical procedures.
A Manpower branch manager, Irene Kudziela, apparently told Blatt that the photograph would solve problems related to restroom and locker room issues.
The original report, by Philadelphia Gay News (PGN), states that Blatt filed complaints with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission against Sapa, the temporary employer who let her go because “she was not physically well enough to work at the job,” and against Manpower.
Blatt refused to supply the photograph, calling the request “repugnant” and “disgusting.”
The reality is that no employer knows what an employee’s genitals look like — or they shouldn’t, anyway. We make assumptions every day on what lies beneath a person’s clothing, but they are only assumptions. Unless we become intimate with that person, we have absolutely no way of knowing, and we manage to proceed quite well in employment and other areas of life without such knowledge.
Should every job applicant be required to turn in a photograph of his or her naked body along with a resume, just to be sure that it’s acceptable to an employer?
Bethany Perkins, a Manpower spokesperson, is quoted in PGN as saying, “The biggest thing to remember is that we’re absolutely committed to the safety and security of our workforce, including the transgender members of our workforce. We’re committed to having diversity in our workforce.”
To be asked for a photograph of genitalia is not likely to make a person feel either safe or secure in any work environment. Hopefully, this issue will be resolved quickly and in Blatt’s favor.
Courtesy Examiner.com
Tags: Lawsuits, Transgender, Twitter