TO:Management TeamFROM:HR ManagerRE:Complaints regarding Pat's use of the women's washroomDATE:January 22, 2007Pertinent Facts:Acme Delivery Ltd. is a delivery company that delivers light freight in the greater Vancouver area. Acme has a fleet of seven trucks, four full-time employees, four owner-operator drivers, a part-time accountant and a part-time mechanic.
Acme's facility consists of a front office, a parking compound, and a small warehouse space and loading dock. Male employees have a locker room that includes communal washroom and shower facilities. There is a separate women's washroom facility that consists of two toilette stalls and two wash basins.
Several of Acme's employees have taken to riding their bicycles to work. Male employees have no problem; they use the men's locker room and can have a shower before starting work. Female employees who cycle to work must use the women's washroom to change in to their work clothes.
Pat, one of Acme's most senior and best employees, drives a truck for Acme.
Supreme Court of Canada
Deutsch: Ottawa: Oberster Gerichtshof von Kanada
Acme!Pat is a male who identifies as a female and is on the wait list for male-to-female sexual reassignment surgery. When Pat began to identifying as a female, she began to use the women's washroom to change from her cycling clothes in the morning. The female employees working in the front office are not comfortable with Pat using the women's washroom and have complained to management. When questioned about her need to use the women's washroom, Pat explained that, in order to be eligible for sexual reassignment surgery, that an individual must have two independent psychiatric assessments and must successfully live full-time in the social role of the genetically opposite sex for at least 12 months. She said that using the women's washroom was consistent with that requirement. She also produced a letter from her psychiatrist stating that she was taking...