A McDonald’s franchise restaurant sentenced in Angers for discrimination and moral harassment of a transgender employee

At the end of January 2023, she was called to “a reframing interview” during which her managers called her by her male first name and asked her to no longer wear makeup.

The industrial tribunal of Angers condemned, Monday June 24, a McDonald’s franchise restaurant in Maine-et-Loire for “characteristic moral harassment” and “discrimination linked to gender identity” against a transgender woman it employed. . In the decision consulted by AFP, the industrial tribunal considers in particular that Syntia D., 21 years old, “is the victim of discrimination because of her gender identity, through the ban on her colleagues using her feminine first name and referring to her as feminine”.

It was as a man, and under the male first name given to her at birth, that Syntia D. was hired in September 2022 by this McDonald’s, located around forty kilometers from Angers. She was in gender transition at the time but still a man for marital status, which is no longer the case today, with an effective change in the summer of 2023.

At the beginning of January 2023, late after a medical appointment, she decided to go straight to work wearing feminine clothes, fake breasts and makeup, explaining that she felt a certain “kindness” from his company and his colleagues. But very quickly, Syntia D. said she was the target of remarks and pressure from her bosses. At the end of January 2023, she is summoned to “a reframing interview” during which she is called by her male first name and asked to stop wearing makeup.

In the days that followed, those in charge of Syntia D. did everything to prevent the use of her new feminine first name, banning it by posting in the restaurant and calling to order in writing two colleagues who had used it. adopted.

“It’s a good result. Today we have a decision which is well thought out, with amounts of damages which may seem disappointing compared to our demands, because we had asked for 30,000 euros. We got 7,000 , plus legal compensation, so around 15,000 euros”, declared the young woman’s lawyer, Bertrand Salquain, leaving the court. Syntia D., who is on sick leave, expressed her “relief”.