Professional Documents
Culture Documents
After the operation, Karen (her new name) was not reinstated as
a pilot by Eastern. At that time there were only 2 female pilots at
Eastern.
Ulane believed that she had been discriminated upon the basis of
her being female. She brought lawsuit to them on the basis of
sexual discrimination.
Judge John Grady presided over the case.
Grady determined that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did
include protection for people who have sexual identity issues,
namely transsexuals. He then had to determine whether Karen
had been discriminated against based on her sex as a woman.
Eastern had had no complaints about Ulane prior to the operation.
Eastern presented seven arguments in a brief defending their
actions in firing her. They were: her underlying psychological
problem presented a safety hazard to crew and passengers,
her medical certification was conditional after surgery,
her sex reassignment surgery did not solve her underlying
problem,
her presence would counter the airlines claim that airline traffic is
safe to the public,
she was not the same person they hired and they would not have
hired her in the first place if they had known what they do now,
she had not disclosed her condition and treatments to the
company,
and finally, she had instigated negative publicity for the airline.
Each of the arguments was proven to have no factual base by
Ulanes lawyers. They used examples of alcoholic pilots who did
not disclose their conditions at hiring and when their conditions
were discovered and treated were allowed to return to work.