Trans woman sues after being deadnamed, misgendered and mistreated in job she’s had for 30 years
Hundreds of members of the LGBT+ community marched through Dundee as part of Trans Pride Scotland 2019. Stewart Kirby/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A trans woman is suing her employer after being repeatedly deadnamed, mistreated and misgendered in a job she’s had for 30 years.
Tori-Anne Corrado has filed a 13-page lawsuit alleging a “hostile work environment, which continues unabated”. This, the lawsuit claims, “would not have occurred, but for the fact that the plaintiff is a transgender woman”.
Corrado has worked as a plant operator in the Division of Water Pollution Control for almost three decades, legally changed her name in 2017, a few months after telling her boss that she would be transitioning. She then underwent gender-affirming surgery in 2018.
Corrado has named both the Wayne township and her boss, Mark Schwind, as defendants in the lawsuit, filed in the state superior court in Paterson, New Jersey, according to NorthJersey.com.
It alleges that Corrado was treated differently from other staff members since she came out as trans, and it claims this mistreatment was directed to her by upper management and the workers she supervises.
She claims her colleagues repeatedly and deliberately misgendered her by referring to her with masculine pronouns or using her deadname. Corrado said she once called Schwind out for using the wrong pronouns, but the lawsuit alleges that he said it was “not a big deal”.
She also claims that, since transitioning, Schwind has required her to meet in his office for daily briefings before starting her shift. Corrado says she’s never been paid for the time spent during these meetings, and she says no other employee has been required to attend such meetings.
NorthJersey.com reported the lawsuit also claims that the Wayne township threatened to demote Corrado in September if she did not step down from her current role as a senior operator within the wastewater facility. As part of her role, she oversees junior operators.
Corrado seeks damages for “mental anguish” and to be reimbursed for lost wages and medical expenses. She also alleged the Wayne township violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws by failing to enforce anti-harassment policies and not stopping her colleagues’ anti-trans behaviours.
PinkNews has contacted the township of Wayne for comment.
