Is it Time to Implement Gender Reassignment Assistance?

Is it Time to Implement Gender Reassignment Assistance?

Gender reassignment assistance is a hot topic among business managers with transgender employees on their payrolls. The LGBTQ+ movement is more in the public eye than ever before, meaning managers must know how to talk about transgender subjects sensitively and implement policies that respect the trans community.

Group Enroll can help you provide financial and medical assistance to your employees. We work with the best insurance companies in Canada, ensuring that you get the best quotes for group benefits packages. Offering a comprehensive group benefits package to your employees boosts workplace morale and attracts qualified candidates to your job postings.

Below, we will discuss the topics of gender identity, gender confirmation surgeries, and how you can implement reassignment assistance for your trans employees.

Table of Contents

Gender Reassignment Overview

Transgender people have most of the same medical necessities as the rest of the population. However, some individuals require specific kinds of care. Gender reassignment refers to the transition from the gender assigned at birth to another.

For example, transgender people may need gender-affirming related medical care, which seeks to match physical appendages with gender identity. Some health services transgender people may need include hormone treatment, genital reconstructive surgery, and facial reconstruction.

Transgender individuals are more likely to suffer from poor mental and physical health. For example, in the U.S, transgender individuals are four times more likely to contract HIV and have over twenty times the chance of attempting suicide than others. The NTDS also finds that nearly twenty percent of trans people experience homelessness.

Transgender individuals are also more likely to experience poverty than the general population. In Canada, 34% of the Trans PULSE survey respondents report that they experience poverty. Health disparities exacerbate these health disadvantages.

In 2013, nearly 30% of trans people requiring urgent care could not access it. Identifying what keeps transgender people from getting health care, including organizational, interpersonal, and lawful barriers, is vital to improving the health and welfare of the trans community.

Barriers for the Trans Community

Transgender people face many barriers in daily life. Not everyone is open to the idea of transgender people, and discrimination can lead to a host of problems for transgender people, including the inability to obtain housing or employment.

Transgender people also experience harassment and violence at higher rates than the general population. These obstacles can be frustrating, but they are not insurmountable. Business managers can help make life easier for trans employees by understanding the daily barriers they face.

Individual

Interpersonal

Organizational

What Managers Can Do to Help

Fortunately, managers can do many things to help transgender employees assimilate to their workplace culture. Below are some of the ways you can help your trans employees feel safe and welcome.

Create an Inclusive Environment for Trans Employees

Have Trans Employees Help Develop an Office Tolerance Policy

How To Implement Gender Reassignment Assistance

If you are an employer, you must know the legal and financial implications of offering gender reassignment assistance to employees. Several laws govern issues relating to gender reassignment in Canada.

The Employment Equity Act (EEA) aims to eliminate discrimination based on sex, ancestry, and national or ethnic origin. The EEA also requires employers to accommodate the needs of employees who undergo gender reassignment concerning any term or condition of employment.

Specifically, employers must provide reasonable adjustments for an employee undergoing gender reassignment. These accommodations include allowing time off work for medical appointments, changing personal leave policies, and providing gender-neutral washrooms.

The Ontario Human Rights Code prohibits discrimination based on race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, religion, marital status, family status, or disability. There are also provincial human rights codes that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Search for a group benefits plan that includes financial assistance for bottom surgery and other gender reassignment procedures. Group Enroll can help you find a benefits package with coverage for gender reassignment issues through our network of insurance companies.

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Group Enroll offers business managers the opportunity to compare quotes from the best insurance companies in Canada. You can fill out our quote form to start the insurance comparison process. Our 10 Great Gulf Drive, Unit 5, Vaughan, ON, L4K 5W1 office will contact our network of insurance providers and get back to you with the best offers for your business.

If you have any questions about gender reassignment policies, email us at hello@groupenroll.ca for more information.