Transitioning at work his, colleagues, confusion, anything, crossed

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Transitioning at work

IT specialist Brad Sensabaugh can’t help but wonder how some of his colleagues at the TD Bank Group in London, Ont., will react when the story of his private life hits the media spotlight.

That he is anything more than the bright, tech savvy 33-year-old man they’ve come to know and respect in the months since he joined the bank has likely never crossed their minds.

Even among those who know his past — that he was once a “she” — there can be confusion.

“I think I pass very well,” he said in a recent telephone interview about his gender transition.

“So unless you get into the nuances of saying, ‘I was born female’, they don’t necessarily know which direction you are going or where you’ve come from.”

Companies in Canada have come a long way in recent years in welcoming diversity into the workplace.

The war for talent has pushed many of the country’s largest and most button-down firms to the leading edge of corporate policy in a bid to attract the best workers into their fold.

Policies supporting GLBT workers — gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered — have been on the books for about five years.

Yet, somehow, the “T” in that combination has remained under the radar. Transphobia remains a real concern for the community, with many choosing not to disclose their transition for fear of harassment or harm.

“The transgendered community is where the gay and lesbian community was 20 years ago,” said Lisa Paley, a TD Bank human resources counsellor in Vancouver, in reference to societal levels of recognition and acceptance.

Now that’s changing, too.

Increasingly, companies are taking a hard look at existing language around diversity inclusion in the office and undertaking rigorous re-writes to specifically identify and address the needs of transgendered workers.

TD Bank, for instance, took the step in 2009 to draft what many perceived at the time as groundbreaking guidelines and benefits in support of workers undergoing changing their gender.

The guidelines tackle everything from appropriate terminology and legal obligations to bathroom rules, and are intended to be used as an education tool by HR professionals and the employee who is transitioning, as well as co-workers and supervisors.

“It’s important when an employee is transitioning in the workplace that their co-workers have an understanding about what is going to happen and what is the proper language usage in terms of pronouns,” Paley said.

It’s not meant as a catch-all to define everyone’s experience.

“Everyone transitions differently,” she said.

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Employers are already bound by federal human rights legislation to ensure their workers are free from discrimination and harassment on several grounds, including race, gender or religion. Sexual orientation is not specifically mentioned, but has been covered following a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada.

British Columbia, like other provinces and territories across the country, also offers protection against harassment for GLBT workers under its human rights code.

What all that translates to in the case of transgendered individuals is there is a legal requirement to allow, and even facilitate, someone to transition on the job.

“There have been situations where people have said, ‘Well, you can’t deal with customers any more. But that is illegal,” said barbara findlay, a human rights lawyer in Vancouver.

“Accommodation means that the employee has the right to work in a discrimination-free workplace and you have to take the steps necessary to make it so,” she said.

There are exceptions to gender discrimination in Canada. Women’s shelters or women’s groups, for instance, are entitled to insist their workers be female on the grounds that gender is a necessary occupational requirement for the job.

That requirement can be especially troubling for transgendered individuals, as Easton Hector-Brown recently discovered.

The 35-year-old mental health worker at a women’s safe house in Vancouver recently began the process of transitioning from female to male, including undergoing hormone therapy, a mastectomy and chest reconstruction.

And while his decision to transition met with “total support” from supervisors at work, his position is in jeopardy. Only by maintaining a female pronoun at work has Hector-Brown been able to continue his employment — a temporary solution at best as he continues through the transition process, but one he’s willing to live with until something better can be worked out.

“I think I will somehow make them come up with some kind of policy because they are going to have to do something with me,” he said.

Sensabaugh, who has been living as a man for 11 years, said it’s important for companies to take the extra step to educate themselves about the trans-community if employers are serious about wanting to remove discrimination, harassment and fear in the workplace.

Indeed, one of the reasons he was attracted to TD was because of its progressive policies, which include covering costs of any gender-re-assignment surgery not paid for through provincial health care. (Procedures covered under medi-care differ from province to province. B.C., for instance, covers all procedures with the exception of phallic construction for female-to-male transitions. However, that exception is currently being challenged through the courts.)

Sensabaugh said he was “pleasantly surprised” with the reception he received when he came out to a human resources representative about his transgendered status shortly after he was hired.

“First of all, she did not give me any facial indication that this was surprising or unheard of and ... Second, the HR rep was so well educated that at no point in time did she have to say, ‘You know, I’ve really never dealt with this. I am going to have to get back to you.’

“I felt like she was entirely prepared to answer any question that I might come to her with.”

As for those co-workers who learn of his transition through this article? Sensabaugh anticipates a certain amount of shock. But he also welcomes the opportunity to broaden the discussion around what it means to be transgendered.

“My view on it is that it’s the truth of my life. It’s not something I would ever try to hide,” he said.

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LONDON, ONT: JULY 29, 2011 --Support in the workplace--Brad Sensabaugh, an IT specialist for TD Bank is transitioning from a woman to a man. TD is providing a supportive workplace for Brad (Photo credit: Dale Carruthers/Special to the Sun ) (for a story by Darah Hansen, Vancouver Sun) [PNG Merlin Archive]