There are a small number of employees whose gender identity does not match the gender they were assigned at birth. Such people are known as ‘transgender’ or ‘trans’ employees.

It should be remembered that individuals will view themselves and their experiences in a unique way and they may have personal preferences in terms of the language that their employers use. In its updated guidance materials, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) uses the term ‘trans’ as an umbrella term to include both:

1. •

   transsexual people, ie a person assigned female at birth who has transitioned or is transitioning to live as a man, or a person assigned male at birth who has transitioned or is transitioning to live as a woman, and

2. •

   people with non-binary identities, ie those who identify neither as male nor female

‘Transitioning’ or ‘gender reassignment’ is a process by which a person aligns their life and physical identity to match their gender identity.

The Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010) provides a set of specific protections in relation to gender reassignment. Under the EqA 2010, s 7, a person has the protected characteristic of ‘gender reassignment’ if, for the purpose of reassigning his or her sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex:

1. •

   he or she is proposing to undergo a process (or part of a process)

2. •

   he or she is currently undergoing