British Columbia’s human rights tribunal has ordered a private laboratory provider to update its policies and pay $32,000 in damages after finding discrimination against transgender and non-binary patients.
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British Columbia’s human rights tribunal has ruled that a private laboratory provider must update its policies and pay $32,000 in damages for discriminating against transgender and non-binary patients.
The tribunal found that LifeLabs and its subsidiary Excelleris Technologies misgendered and outed three patients at clinics in Vancouver and Burnaby in 2019.
In one case described in the tribunal’s decision, a non-binary person was told they had to choose either male or female to receive lab services, and was outed to other patients in the waiting room.
The tribunal heard evidence that gender-diverse people face barriers in accessing health care and that misgendering can be “a significant source of distress.”
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