Trans Woman Hired, Then Fired, Then Re-Hired By a Richmond, VA KFC

It’s a difficult job market out there, as I’m sure many of us know. So, when 27-year old Georgia Carter was hired by a local KFC in Richmond, VA this weekend, she was thrilled, and promptly reported the happy news to her boyfriend. She’d been told that she’d start training the next day, what she’d be making, etc. But an hour later, she received a phone call from the manager who’d hired her citing a problem.

ABC 13 News in Richmond reported the story, and in this video, Carter explains what happened:

Pretty messed up, huh? Well thankfully, this story has a happy ending! When KFC corporate got wind of what had happened, they were not pleased, as this manager’s actions violates their anti-discrimination policy, which protects against gender-based firing.

@elielcruz KFC will not tolerate discrimination. The franchisee terminated this manager & Ms Carter was offered a job at any Richmond KFC

— KFC (@kfc) March 1, 2016

They announced today that this manager has himself been fired, and they offered Carter a job at any of the Richmond KFCs starting immediately. As reported by The Huffington Post, the Gay Star News spoke to a KFC representative who told them the following:

Upon learning of this allegation, the franchisee who owns this Richmond restaurant conducted an immediate and thorough investigation. The manager has been terminated for violating the franchisee’s anti-discrimination policy, which is inclusive of gender identity and sexual orientation. The franchisee’s leadership has also had a conversation with Ms. Carter, offering her employment at this restaurant or any of their Richmond area KFC restaurants, effective immediately. Additionally, the franchisee is emphasizing sensitivity and compliance with their policies to keep this from happening again.

While it sucks that Carter even had to deal with this runaround, it’s really awesome to see a company like KFC have someone’s back like this, and actually put their money where their mouth is as far as their anti-discrimination policies. It’s easy to pay lip-service to ending workplace discrimination, but it’s another thing to enforce your own policies and follow through, which is exactly what happened here.

This is why specifically addressing things like gender identity, sexual orientation, etc is so important to a workplace when it comes to designing anti-discrimination policies. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, 1 in 4 trans people have lost a job due to being trans, and 3/4 of trans people have experienced some form of workplace discrimination. This also disproportionately affects trans women of color (and I am forced to wonder what might have happened in this situation had Carter not been white).

In any case, good on you, KFC. Thank you for making enforcement of your anti-discrimination policies a priority. Here’s hoping other companies follow suit.

(image via screengrab)

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