EEOC Sues New York Pizzeria for Harassing and Driving Out a Transgender Employee

By: Alexandra C. Hains

In January, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (“EEOC”) released a draft of its “Strategic Enforcement Plan” for 2023-2027, which included expanding priority workers to include LGBTQIA+ individuals. In the plan, the EEOC wrote that it will prioritize vulnerable and underserved categories of workers “who may be unaware of their rights under equal employment opportunity laws, may be reluctant or unable to exercise their legally protected rights, or have historically been underserved by federal employment discrimination protections.”

Based on recent activity, the EEOC is serious about this priority. In March, the EEOC filed a lawsuit against a New York pizzeria after “management and employees harassed an employee because of his gender identity.” The lawsuit is the first from the EEOC since filing on behalf of another trans worker in 2017.

In the suit, the EEOC alleges the owners of TC Wheelers Bar & Pizzeria in Tonawanda, New York, “repeatedly harassed Quinn J. Gambino, a transgender male, including telling Gambino that he ‘wasn’t a real man’ [and] asking invasive questions about his transition.” The EEOC also alleges that management intentionally misgendered the employee and did not take any action when other employees and customers did the same. The EEOC claims that the employee repeatedly complained to management and that the company failed to protect the employee by not addressing the almost daily harassment from all levels of staff, including owners, managers, and line employees. Eventually, the employee had “no choice but to resign to escape the harassment,” the EEOC charged.

The alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, including gender identity, as reaffirmed by the United States Supreme Court in Bostock v. Clayton County. In a statement following the filing of the lawsuit, the Chair of the EEOC stated, “The EEOC will vigorously enforce the Supreme Court’s holding in Bostock that discrimination against transgender workers violates the law.”