[JURIST] The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) [official website] has ruled in favor of a transgender woman who endured physical and verbal harassment during her employment as a federal contractor in Maryland. The woman, who has not been publicly identified [Advocate report], filed a complaint last year under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 [text]. The EEOC held that the woman’s supervisors violated Title VII by failing to intervene upon learning of the harassment, therefore creating a hostile work environment. In 2012 the EEOC held that “intentional discrimination against a transgender individual because that person is transgender, is, by definition, discrimination ‘based on … sex.” Title VII prohibits discrimination based on sex.

The EEOC first extended gender identity Title VII protection in 2012 to Mia Macy [Metroweekly report], a qualified transgender woman whose job offer was rescinded by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) [official website] once the agency learned of Macy’s transgender status. Macy initially filed a complaint with ATF’s equal employment office, which denied the request because transgender discrimination was not protected under Title VII. Macy appealed the decision to the EEOC where the commissioners held [opinion] that transgender discrimination was prohibited under the Act. That ruling was adopted [decision, PDF] by the Department of Justice last week.