Hey Hollister: What about Cross-Dressers?

May 12th, 2010. By AbiK

So American Eagle Outfitters has “agreed” to get rid of a rule they had that banned male employees from showing up to work in women’s clothes, and to be fair, women employees from showing up in men’s clothes.

For American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), the issue arose out of a complaint filed by Make the Road New York with NY State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office that stated there was a “pattern of discrimination against transgender job hunters.”

According to the NY Daily News, a probe into the situation revealed that, indeed, there was such a pattern.

Of course, a spokeswoman from AEO has issued a statement indicating that “AEO is not admitting to the findings”.

Meanwhile, AEO has also agreed to train its staff on transgender issues such as how to refer to a transgender employee—is he a she or she a he? I’m not sure how one crafts the lingo on that in the company handbook other than to simply follow the wishes of the transgender employee. Bathroom assignments I guess are another issue, and one I’m not tackling here. None the less, it’ll now be addressed in AEO’s training.

But it begs the question, what about retailers like Hollister—who recently came under fire for allegedly dismissing an employee for another form of dress: a hijab. This isn’t a judgement statement here, but you’d have to agree that a head scarf is perhaps a little less visually in the raise-an-eyebrow range for most customers than a gentleman in hose and heels. I’m exaggerating here, but I’ve certainly come across a wide variability among cross-dressing styles.

So would a qualified gent in hose and heels get a job at Hollister?

Tags: American Eagle Outfitters, Discrimination, Hollister

This was posted on Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at 2:33 pm and is filed under Employment . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.