News

An Employment Tribunal has given partial support to a sex-change truck driver in a discrimination case after he transformed himself from Mike Gaynor to Vikki-Marie Gaynor. Gaynor went to the tribunal after she claimed she had been put in a position where she had to resign from her job with Exel Europe.

Gaynor took her action in the Employment Tribunal against both Exel Europe and recruitment agency Blue Arrow. She claimed she was discriminated against after turning up for work in women's  clothes, earrings and make-up during the time that she was in transition from being a man to being a woman.

The tribunal considered a number of allegations, two of which it accepted but several of which it rejected. It accepted that Gaynor was removed by Exel from her regular work run "in part because of her transition status". The tribunal also says that Blue Arrow discriminated against Gaynor in the way it dealt with her grievances.

But a number of other allegations were dismissed, including the suggestion that her employers discriminated against her in the allocation of runs after she was removed from her usual work. The tribunal also rejected a claim that the removal of some of Gaynor's property from a cab was discriminatory and it ruled that Exel Europe did not discriminate against her in the way it dealt with her grievances.

Blue Arrow said after the case that it "accepts the outcome of the employment tribunal's ruling" and added it is "committed to fair treatment  for all". DHL Exel Supply Chain said it is "currently considering the reserved judgement of the Liverpool Employment Tribunal and until that is complete it would not be appropriate for us to comment further". Compensation for Gaynor has not yet been decided but will be considered at a remedy hearing, the date of which is yet to be fixed.