Civil servants oppose plans to end trans reassignment leave policy

I don't think it could; wouldn't the comparator in this case be a person without the protected characteristic of gender reassignment asking for paid and not-counted-for-disciplinary-purposes time off for elective cosmetic surgery? I wouldn't expect that one to fly.

In case anyone doesn't know what this surgery involves, here are the gruesome details.

genderblog.net/what-exactly-is-a-neophallus-then/

https://genderblog.net/what-exactly-is-a-neo-vagina-then/

Take it to court then.

I thought you had to be quite clever to work for the Civil Service. Perhaps not

Not permitting time off could be gender reassignment discrimination

My objection is to people being allowed special leave for recovery from cosmetic surgery. This is no more justified than special leave for recovery from a facelift.

There should be a level playing field in the way that absence for surgery is treated across the board. No favouritism or sacred castes, thank you very much.

i don't have any. I have an objection to trans people being allowed paid time off for recovery from surgery that a cancer victim working for the same employer would not be allowed under the sickness and absence policy.

I imagine a lot of the pushback will be coming from HR managers who have had to give their employees written warnings for too much time off sick for things like cancer treatment - yes, the CS will give a sick warning to a cancer patient if they’ve had too many days off. Even if it’s for active treatment. As soon as you reach trigger point, it doesn’t matter if you’re having daily treatment, appointments and follow ups. You get a written warning for sick. And whilst verbally everyone knows it’s a crock of crap, managers still have to comply with policy. Their judgement is not considered good enough. It has resulted in people coming back too soon and then hitting the double whammy as their recovery is hampered by having come back too soon and then being considered as having taken 2 lots of sick leave in a short space of time.

It should just be about fitness to work due to surgery. No statutory set period for transition. They aren't having a baby.

Good to see that the equality aspect of this is what's brought it to an end. Presumably civil servants with serious illnesses, possibly life limiting, looked at trans colleagues getting an extra 13 weeks before sick pay kicks in and made complaints?

No more sacred castes. No more special treatment. No more special privileges.
Time to be part of the community, the workplace and accept the same rights that everyone else has.

Until now, transgender employees could take up to 13 weeks of special leave in a rolling 12-month period for medical treatment and recovery related to gender identity without it being counted as sick leave.

The objection as far as I'm concerned is that I don't think anybody should be having surgery for a psychological issue, and providing this very generous paid leave makes it more likely that some civil servants will go down that path. Looking specifically at surgery on the genital area, there's a high risk of post-operative infection and complications, and the end results are really nothing like the real thing. If I ruled the world all that surgery would be banned.

What is your objection to people being allowed time off to recover from surgery?