Transgender Woman Sues China Employer After Post-Surgery Firing

Transgender Woman Sues China Employer After Post-Surgery Firing
Dec 17, 2019 By eChinacities.com

A transgender woman is suing her former China employer in a landmark case after being fired following gender reassignment surgery. The woman, surnamed Yang, is taking legal action against the eastern city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province.


Photo: Ludovic Bertron

Yang was advised to quit her job after returning to work at a media company  in her new identity as a post-op transgender woman earlier this year. She refused to stand down but was fired a month later, with her employer claiming her dismissal was because of lateness.

Yang is suing under an equal employment rights law that came into affect last year. It is the first time the law has been used in an attempt to protect the rights of transgender employees in China. Yang is seeking a public apology and compensation from her former employer in a move that could blaze the trail for similar cases in the future.

Zhu Bao, a Beijing attorney who has worked with LGBT clients in China before, told Inkstone that he hopes the case will, “encourage many more people to come out and fight for their rights in workplaces and in life”.

Duan Rongfeng, a fundraiser for a China-based LGBT advocacy group, added that Chinese workplaces still have a long way to go in protecting the rights of transgender employees. “In China, the majority of the more socially progressive companies that are having these conversations are still figuring out how to be more inclusive to their homosexual employees. They have yet to start thinking about the transgender communities.”

Yang’s case has been widely covered by Chinese journalists and is trending on social media. “The law will just be a dead law if nobody uses it,” she told the AFP.

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Keywords: transgender woman sues China employer China employer

9 Comments

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olayinka9139

China business are money making

Apr 15, 2020 08:05 Report Abuse

Fatai2356

Business in china are to make money

Apr 11, 2020 00:53 Report Abuse

Guest17126710

Avoid " Expert International Education" with jobs in Xiamen / Fuzhou.high schools and colleges. Innumerable problems my wife had with this company and I ended up having to spend a lot of time and money getting her out of there and back to UK. Avoid. China seems to be getting less and less hospitable. Sad

Dec 29, 2019 17:19 Report Abuse

biggj123

So is it a biological woman or man? I get confused with how they word it. They say "woman" but is that before or after? It all just PC garbage anyway.

Dec 21, 2019 09:56 Report Abuse

officesetup

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Dec 18, 2019 15:51 Report Abuse

sorrel

with an alias like that, are you going to SPAM? to be honest i can't see why anyone would chose such an alias otherwise.

Dec 18, 2019 19:56 Report Abuse

Guest2709144

I hope he loses his case.

Dec 17, 2019 12:42 Report Abuse