A he or a she?
dwitt
26 Posts
I am dying to share this situation with others (as I am very limited to who I can tell at work) so who better than fellow forumites!
We are a manufacturing plant, prefering to hire all hourly employees through a temp agency. The agency does all the screening, testing, etc. and sends us workers as we request them.
Last week, we had an opening, my rep at the agency called to let me know that they had a good candidate with years of experience in the industy, etc. etc. However, this individual has the appearance of a female, but during the I9 verification, was discovered to be a male.
I have never before faced something like this. I don't personally have any issues, and if anything, this certainly presents something interesting to tuck under my HR belt. I truly play my role in HR as best I can, ethically, fair, unbiased.
I discussed with my Manager and the only problem/concern we came up with was one I posed to my temp agency, "Which restroom will this individual use?"
That question was one my rep could not answer, nor did he think he could ask this person. We decided NOT to have this individual fill the position.
I, like other females, would discover in no time at all, if a male was using the restroom. In fact, our restroom also serves as a Locker room, with a shower. Under ordinary circumstances, a shower in a workplace locker room probably wouldn't get much use, but in this case, we just put in a Fitness Center, expanded the locker room by installing a shower to incent salary/office employees to use the Fitness Center during their lunch break. Do you think this ever could have presented a hostile work environment?
We are a manufacturing plant, prefering to hire all hourly employees through a temp agency. The agency does all the screening, testing, etc. and sends us workers as we request them.
Last week, we had an opening, my rep at the agency called to let me know that they had a good candidate with years of experience in the industy, etc. etc. However, this individual has the appearance of a female, but during the I9 verification, was discovered to be a male.
I have never before faced something like this. I don't personally have any issues, and if anything, this certainly presents something interesting to tuck under my HR belt. I truly play my role in HR as best I can, ethically, fair, unbiased.
I discussed with my Manager and the only problem/concern we came up with was one I posed to my temp agency, "Which restroom will this individual use?"
That question was one my rep could not answer, nor did he think he could ask this person. We decided NOT to have this individual fill the position.
I, like other females, would discover in no time at all, if a male was using the restroom. In fact, our restroom also serves as a Locker room, with a shower. Under ordinary circumstances, a shower in a workplace locker room probably wouldn't get much use, but in this case, we just put in a Fitness Center, expanded the locker room by installing a shower to incent salary/office employees to use the Fitness Center during their lunch break. Do you think this ever could have presented a hostile work environment?
Comments
We (I) talked to the employee as a matter of safety. We stated the situation (potential threats) and the employee filled in the blanks by saying they were biologically a female. We extended an offer for the employee to use the restroom located in the office area (location was felt to be safer due to proximity to staff). Unfortunately, employee resigned. Our city has a "fairness ordinance" which includes prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or preference.
I know this individual has rights and should not be discriminated against, but what about our obligation to protect our own employees? Men cannot enter the Women's restroom and vice versa. Quite honestly, we don't know if the person was completely changed over (the plumbing, so to speak) from a male to a female, but for I9 verification purposes, this individual is a Male. I'm just wondering what employers are doing out there?
Male
Female
Transgender
[url]http://www.tgcrossroads.org/images/news/transADAsign.jpg[/url]
Still, there will be places where its not feasible to go that route. Stadiums for example can't have 200 unisex bathrooms.
I saw this article tonight and thought of this thread.
The university of vermont has added "gender neutral" bathrooms.
[url]http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294633,00.html[/url]
Gender Neutral solves the problem.
Would you be comfortable with gender neutral mult-stall bathrooms?
In 1979 I was very pregnant and in a multi-stall restroom at work (we rented part of a large building). A man came in and I could clearly seem him through the part where the door locks but doesn't meet the stall. It scared me to death. He walked around and ultimately urinated in the stall next to me. I could tell he left the door open and then finally left. I would prefer not to repeat the experience. Sharing a one-toilet restroom would be ok though, as people do that at home all the time.
I dont know about women's bathrooms, but there is ABSOLUTELY ZERO eye contact in men's bathrooms. A purple dinosaur could walk in, use the bathroom, and leave and not a single guy would acknowledge anything unusual.
So I dont see what the big deal is.