A Canadian human rights tribunal has awarded a transgender, non-binary restaurant server $30,000 and ruled refusal to use someone’s preferred pronouns as a human rights offence, during the settlement of an employment dispute. According to a report in The Independent, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ruled in favour of Jessie Nelson, a former restaurant server who goes by “they” and “them” pronouns.
While working at the Buono Osteria restaurant in British Columbia, Nelson was misgendered by the bar manager and fired after four weeks. The restaurant’s bar manager, Brian Gobelle, “persistently” referred to Jessie Nelson with she/her pronouns and with gendered nicknames like “sweetheart”, “honey”, and “pinky”,’ according to Devyn Cousineau, member of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal.
When Nelson asked Gobelle to stop, he refused and a second conversation between them about the issue became tense. Nelson was then fired by the restaurant owner, Ryan Kingsberry, four days later. Nelson took their case to the tribunal, alleging that “Gobelle’s conduct towards them, and the employer’s response, amounts to discrimination in employment based on their gender identity and expression”, in violation of British Columbia’s Human Rights Code.
The tribunal agreed that the deliberate, constant misgendering of Nelson was a violation of their human rights. They ordered the restaurant’s management to pay Nelson $30 000 in damages as well as “implement a pronoun policy and mandatory training for all staff and managers about diversity, equity and inclusion”.