North Carolina Clashes With U.S. Over New Public Restroom Law (Photo : Getty Images)
The court victory of Liu, a 29-year-old transgender man, against Coming Checkup for workplace discrimination appears to be an empty win.
That’s because out of the 1,600 yuan ($247) compensation sought by Liu, born a female but identifies himself as a male, against the Chinese healthcare company closed on Tuesday with a local arbitration commission in Guiyang awarding Liu a measly amount. The court ordered the Guiyang branch of Ciming to pay Liu a backpay of only 402.3 yuan ($61.70), reported Global Times.
The amount is equivalent to only one-fourth or 25 percent of the amount that Liu requested the court. In response to the court decision, Liu said, “I am disappointed at the ruling and will continue to sue, as I believe the law should not tolerate any kind of discrimination.”
Liu’s lawyer, Huang Sha, said that by early Wednesday, he would file another lawsuit at the Yunyan district court of Guiyang to seek the higher payment that his client has originally requested.
Chiming insisted that they fired Liu not because he is transgender but because he was not qualified for the job.
Members of China’s LGBT community were inspired by Liu’s decision to file the lawsuit since they also had experienced workplace discrimination because of their gender. According to Xu Bin, director of Common Language, an NGO based in Beijing that advocates for equal rights for LGBT, their organization received a lot of calls from transgenders after reading Liu’s story.
Because of the lawsuit, the first transgender discrimination case in China, lawyers from 14 Chinese provinces will begin an anti-labor-discrimination group which would provide legal aid to members of the LGBT community, reported The Atlantic.
