Lawful gender discrimination
In most cases an existing or prospective employer should not ask a potential employee if they are trans because in most employment situations gender identity has no bearing on the ability to perform a job.
There are some specific employment situations where it is legal to employ only a woman or a man for a particular position. In these situations, some trans people may need to provide evidence about their sex.
Some employment situations require an individual of a particular sex as a qualification for the role. These positions include:
- domestic employment in a private household
- counselling on highly personal matters such as sexual matters or the prevention of violence
- positions that need to be held by one sex to preserve reasonable standards of privacy, and
- situations where the nature or location of the employment makes it impracticable for the employee not to live in premises provided by the employer and it is not reasonable for the employer to provide separate sleeping accommodation or premises for each sex.
Under the Human Rights Act it is unlawful to ask questions of (or about) a job applicant that indicate an intention to discriminate on one of the grounds covered by the Act. If an employee considers that an employer has acted in this way, they may make a complaint under the Human Rights Act.
