Transsexual worker to sue over dismissal

A transsexual care worker is suing her former employer claiming she was sacked after she turned up for work in a dress.

Rachel Millington claims her bosses were unsympathetic to her situation when she changed her name from Andrew and started dressing as a woman.

The 24-year-old claims bosses at Housing and Support Solutions Limited, in Cleethorpes, terminated her contract without reason just days after she announced her gender change decision.

Miss Millington, from Lincoln, is now suing the company for unfair dismissal, sexual discrimination and loss of earnings at a tribunal next month.

She said: "All my confidence has gone since I was fired. It has been a traumatic year for me. I can't wait for the final day to come so I can get on with the rest of my life.

"I hope to win the case and clear my name and maybe get some compensation," she said.

"I came to work as Rachel and from then on it got worse. One day they phoned me and said 'don't bother coming in'. They also sent a letter and there was no explanation.

"In this day and age, you would have thought people would have got used to this sort of thing now but it appears it is no better."

She said the disabled people she worked with didn't have a problem with her new identity - just her colleagues and bosses.

"I think it is very sad," she added.

She has not yet had surgery - and is still physically a man - but plans to undergo a gender re-alignment operation and hormone injections to stimulate breast growth.

Miss Millington claims she approached her bosses at the Cleethorpes-based company and warned them that she would be coming to work as a woman - and asked to be called Rachel instead of Andrew. But she claims they were unsupportive.

Her employment tribunal will be heard in Lincoln next month.

Housing and Support Solutions Limited declined to comment.