Transgender Employee Faces 'Hostility' At Wayne Job: Lawsuit

WAYNE, NJ — A transgender woman has faced hostility and discrimination at her job with the Department of Water Pollution Control, and she believes it's because of her gender identity, according to a lawsuit.

Tori-Anne Corrado, a Hamburg resident and senior plant operator in Wayne Township, filed the lawsuit on April 30. The documents lay out a timeline of events from Corrado's hiring in the 90s — then Paul Corrado — to her decision to transition.

That decision came in 2016, the lawsuit says, and when Corrado disclosed it to her boss, Mark Schwind, he reacted by "giggling." Schwind, as well as the township, are listed as defendants.

Since 2016, Corrado has been treated differently at work, and has been subjected to consistent discrimination, the suit alleges. Not only that, but when these complaints are brought up, they've been largely ignored, documents say.

Corrado is identified as "Plaintiff" in the excerpt below:

"Since Plaintiff's announcement that she was a transgender woman, Plaintiff has been treated differently than cisgender employees, based on her gender identity/expression. Plaintiff has been repeatedly met with disrespect and hostility by members of upper management, as well as, by the Junior Plant Operators she supervises at the Township of Wayne. Plaintiff's complaints to upper management about this discriminatory conduct has not been supported, corrected, and/or addressed."

The lawsuit said Schwind, who is the Superintendent of the Wayne facility, "repeatedly, and intentionally, engaged in misgendering by referring to Ms. Corrado using male/masculine gender pronouns."

When Corrado pushed back against these instances of misgendering, her complaints aren't taken seriously, the documents allege. Schwind, for example, told Corrado that "it's really not a big deal," according to the suit.

Other employees at the plant have used homophobic language while at work, the suit alleges.

Corrado and her attorney's believe the township has violated state anti-discrimination measures through a number of failings, and believe Corrado was discriminated against based on her "gender identity or expression."

"The hostile work environment, which is ongoing, and has continued unabated, would not have occurred but for the fact that Plaintiff is a transgender woman, and such conduct has been severe or pervasive such that a reasonable transgender person believes that the conditions of her employment were altered and the work environment was intimidating, hostile or abusive," the filing read.

Corrado is seeking damages which include those for lost wages and benefits, pension losses, pain, suffering, humiliation, mental anguish and emotional and physical harm, the document said.

Keep up to date with what's happening in your community by subscribing to your local Patch newsletter here.