Trans rights are human rights are workers’ rights

In 2019, Jessie Nelson was fired from their job as a server in a restaurant on BC’s sunshine coast. Two years later, in September 2021, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal (BCHRT) ordered their employer to pay Nelson $30,000 in damages for injury to dignity.

Nelson is trans and nonbinary, and worked at Buono Osteria in Gibsons, BC, for just over a month when they were told they were being fired without cause during their probationary period. This dismissal came just a few days after a heated discussion between Nelson and the restaurant’s bar manager, who had refused to use Nelson’s correct pronouns.

Our Times spoke with Nelson, and their lawyer, Adrienne Smith, to better understand what this win means for trans and nonbinary workers.

Read the full story at Our Times.