14 | HR Connection
Personnel and Personal Pronouns An overview of the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (EFMLEA) and the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA)
Emma J. Darling, Associate
W
hile the LGBTQ community and the existence of pronouns are nothing new to HR departments, there’s recently been a resurgence on the usage of gender pronouns in the news and our culture. Thanks to the high-profile cases of Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia and Gloucester County School Board v. G.G., transgender issues in hiring and in schools have become front page news again. General awareness about gender inclusivity has increased, but one of the main technical aspects that many people, HR personnel especially, struggle with still is pronoun usage. So, what should HR departments know
about pronouns, and why should they be sure to get them right? EMERGING CASELAW Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, 590 U.S. ___ (2020) was a case decided by the Supreme Court. Bostock, a gay man, was terminated from his job as a child welfare coordinator for being a member of a gay softball league. He filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC, and then sued his employer for discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”). The Supreme Court held that it is a violation of Title VII for an employer to fire an individual employee merely for being gay or transgender.
G.G. ex rel. Grimm v. Gloucester County Sch. Bd., 822 F.3d 709 (4th Cir. 2016), vacated and remanded, 137 S. Ct. 1239, 197 L. Ed. 2d 460 (2017) is a Fourth Circuit case. Gavin Grimm (G.G.) is a transgender former student who sued his school board for not allowing him to use the restroom of his gender identity, and for failing to change his transcripts to say “male” after graduation. The Fourth Circuit ruled in favor of Grimm, making the school board pay over a million dollars, after which eventually they settled. While this is a case in the Fourth Circuit, which means it is not binding in Texas, it may be instructive to future decisions in other circuits.
