The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled last week that the federal Office of Personnel & Management erred in denying a retired federal employee coverage for the same medical care others receive simply because he was receiving it for gender dysphoria.
Marc Lawrence’s case has been pending for eight years.
“This is a huge win for transgender employees, confirming what a number of courts across the country have determined — that blanket exclusions for gender-affirming care target transgender people for discrimination and violate Title VII,” said Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Tara Borelli. “It took eight years, but at long last Marc Lawrence has gotten the justice and coverage he never should have been denied.”
Shannon Leary, partner at Gilbert Employment Law, added, “The EEOC’s decision solidified a particularly salient protection under Title VII, as transgender individuals face a slew of discriminatory legislation across the country. It’s clear that Marc Lawrence, like all transgender employees, deserves medical care just as much as his colleagues, and we hope that federal agencies, and all employers, take this as a sign of their obligation to treat transgender employees with fairness.”
Lawrence himself said that while it’s been “a long journey, it’s a relief knowing that others won’t have to face the same blatant discrimination I first encountered in 2013. My case will serve as an affirmation of the rights that transgender individuals have under the law, and I’m deeply grateful for that.”
Lawrence, a former employee with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, received coverage through the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan when he submitted claims for three office visits in 2013 and 2014 and for hormones his doctor prescribed. BCBS denied the claims, citing a categorical exclusion for gender-affirming care in the plan.
The exclusion violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and FEHBP required that the exclusion be removed in 2015, which BCBS did in 2016. But that relief came too late for Lawrence, who was still financially accountable for his 2013 and 2014 visits and hormones.
In its ruling, the EEOC made specific reference to Lambda Legal’s recent win before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Kadel v. Folwell, as well as Lambda Legal’s win before the Eleventh Circuit in Glenn v. Brumby.
Read more about the case and the ruling at Lawrence v. Office of Personnel & Management.
Handling the case for Lambda Legal are Tara Borelli and Gregory Nevins, joined by co-counsel Shannon C. Leary and Gary M. Gilbert with Gilbert Employment Law, P.C.
— Tammye Nash