老澳门开奖结果

CONTACT:
Gillian Branstetter, Communications Strategist, gbranstetter@aclu.org

OLYMPIA, Wash. 鈥� The Washington State Commission on Human Rights today issued a reasonable cause finding of discrimination against Alaska Airlines over the company鈥檚 enforcement of a uniform policy that requires flight attendants to conform to a rigid set of gendered dress and grooming standards.

鈥淭he illegal and discriminatory uniform policy maintained by Alaska Airlines forces employees like me to dress and groom in a manner inconsistent with our gender identities and gender expressions,鈥� said Justin Wetherell, a non-binary flight attendant and flight-attendant instructor for Alaska Airlines based in Seattle. 鈥淭here is no reason for the airline to continue to enforce this illegal policy 鈥� other than to maintain an outdated and discriminatory ideal of gender.鈥�

The uniform policy at Alaska Airlines comprehensively regulates every aspect of a flight attendant's appearance by requiring them to wear either the 鈥渕asculine鈥� or 鈥渇eminine鈥� uniform, which in turn dictates whether employees may wear dresses or skirts, whether employees may wear lipstick or facial hair, what color shoes employees may wear, and whether employees may wear ties or neck scarves.

The commission found the airline鈥檚 dress code forced Wetherell 鈥渢o try fitting into a binary uniform system despite identifying as neither male nor female and making multiple requests for exceptions to the uniform policy that would have allowed them to dress and groom according to their gender identity.鈥�

鈥淭he airline鈥檚 uniform policy reflects and reinforces archaic and harmful gender stereotypes,鈥� said Linda Morris, staff attorney for the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Women鈥檚 Rights Project. 鈥淲e hope that the commission鈥檚 finding serves as a wake-up call for Alaska Airlines to immediately remove these gendered restrictions from its policy in accordance with their employees鈥� rights.鈥�

鈥淭he uniform policy places a particularly heavy burden on non-binary employees, but the uniform鈥檚 policy also harms any flight attendant who does not fit Alaska Airlines鈥� preferred image of either male or female,鈥� said Joshua Block, senior staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 LGBTQ & HIV Project. 鈥淏y forcing our client and countless other employees to adhere to Alaska Airlines鈥� rigid gender categories, the uniform policy demeans employees who do not conform to gender stereotypes and interferes with their ability to do their jobs.鈥�

The 老澳门开奖结果 and the 老澳门开奖结果 of Washington alleging that Alaska Airlines鈥� uniform policy violates Washington state law, which explicitly prohibits discrimination based on gender identity, appearance, behavior, or expression and violates state and federal prohibitions against sex discrimination.

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