In the first case of its kind in Jersey, taxi driver Erin Bisson claimed to the Jersey Employment and Discrimination Tribunal that she had been discriminated against by the ferry firm after she was told she would have to use the disabled toilets rather than the ladies on one of its vessels.
Condor later admitted that there had been a ‘non-intentional and non-malicious act of discrimination’ towards Ms Bisson, who was known as Robert before she identified herself as a woman and the operator will now remove the words ‘ladies’ and ‘gentlemen’ on all of its toilet doors and use symbols for men and women instead after working with Ms Bisson (40) and the tribunal to come up with a satisfactory resolution to the complaint and it has also retrained its staff to treat transgender customers sensitively.
Since then, many Islanders have questioned whether other companies and the States will now change their signage and when asked by the JEP if the States would be changing its policies regarding public toilets, a spokesman said that there were no immediate plans, but that extensive work was being undertaken in other areas to ensure no-one was discriminated against.
