Director Kraninger needs to do the right thing for LGBTQ+ employees

Like all of you, Aimee Stephens just wanted to do a good job for her employer and have a decent life.

Once her employer was told that Aimee was transgender (and had realized so since she was five years old), the company made that impossible. The owner fired her. The EEOC ruled that Aimee’s employer had violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The employer decided to push for the law to be interpreted differently, eventually, with the help of representation by Alliance Defending Freedom, bringing the case up through district and federal courts to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court was scheduled to announce a ruling in her case this past week, but that changed on May 14th when Aimee died of kidney disease. Aimee never got to hear whether the law would finally protect herself and others from discrimination.

NTEU 335 is dedicated to make sure that all Bureau employees are protected from discrimination, no matter what. At the Bureau, our management has not made that same commitment. Instead, Director Kraninger has only promised to “follow the law.” This allows wiggle room for Bureau internal policies that could be unclear, incomplete, unjust, or unequitable.

Your union continues to call on Director Kraninger to do the right thing: the Bureau needs a firm policy that protects LGBTQ+ employees from unequitable workplace discrimination—and should ensure similar policies are in place and strengthened for all Bureau employees in historically protected classes, even if the law changes to remove protections.

Rest in peace, Aimee. We fight on for you, and Bureau employees like you, so you may also rest in power.