I Was Lucky

I transitioned when I retired and I had a job at the same place for 28 years; now a days having a job that long is becoming impossible in today’s job shop economy.

As a transgender woman working in the gig economy, I'm humiliated dailyTo make matters worse, the government hardly enforces employment law, so I’ve had to fight for my rightful protectionThe Guardian
By Hayley Stanley
Tue 17 Jul 2018

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I say that I suffered similar abuse at work, that I was discriminated against by co-workers and my employer. My ex-employer denies that, but also asserts that I don’t even have a right to complain about any problems I had in an employment tribunal. Despite the fact that I worked only for it, under its direction, consistently worked full days from Monday to Saturday, and was in no sense whatsoever running my own business, it says I was not an employee or a worker. And to be protected against discrimination in the workplace, you have to be one or the other.

My union, the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, which has taken on and beaten some of the biggest exploiters in the so-called “gig economy”, advises me that I was misclassified by my employer and am indeed covered by discrimination law. But for many of the non-unionised colleagues in my industry, the fact that the government does next to nothing to enforce employment law gives free rein to courier and private-hire companies to allow rampant discrimination at work. I say the treatment I was subjected to is bad enough. But to now have to go to a tribunal to prove that I have a legal right not to be treated badly at work throws salt on the wounds.

It must be hard if you are a job shopper and you jobs are all temporary and you continually have to look for jobs and if you are trans it must a magnitude harder.