A woman claims that she was hired, then quickly fired, from a KFC in Richmond, Virginia for her gender identity, reports local news station WRIC.
Georgia Carter says just an hour after she was offered a position at KFC, her manager rescinded the job offer when he realized her driver’s license indicated Carter was male.
According to Carter, the manager claimed that KFC could not hire her because "we don’t know which bathroom you can use."
In a statement to Business Insider, KFC said that upon learning of the allegation, the franchisee who owns the Richmond restaurant conducted an "immediate and thorough investigation."
KFC's statement continues:
The manager has been terminated for violating the franchisee’s anti-discrimination policy, which is inclusive of gender identity and sexual orientation. The franchisee’s leadership has also had a conversation with Ms. Carter, offering her employment at this restaurant or any of their Richmond area KFC restaurants, effective immediately. Additionally, the franchisee is emphasizing sensitivity and compliance with their policies to keep this from happening again.
More than one in four transgender individuals have lost a job due to bias, according to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Fifty percent reported being harassed on the job.
Currently, there is no federal law banning workplace discrimination against transgender employees, though in 2012 it was determined that federal sex discrimination law Title VII protects transgender workers. A number of states have protections against workplace discrimination against transgender people; Virginia is not one of them.
Instead, the state is considering a law that would require public facilities to designate restrooms for use "by a specific gender to solely be used by individuals whose anatomical sex matches such gender designation."
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