The abuse from her group of all-male crane mechanics at Boeing began before they realized she was a transgender woman, when they began to notice the subtle changes she had made since moving on.
She’d been with the business since 1989 and had felt welcomed on every group she’d worked for more than 20 times. She and her colleagues had a “quite wonderful,” friendly relationship. When their aging families were ill and dying, they shared their swings.
That help vanished in 2010, and the company’s alleged weekly to normal cruelty erupted. In a recent federal court case, Rasmussen comprehensive that therapy.
Coworkers reportedly snuck up behind her to retrieve her from behind, used a slur during a variety coaching, and demanded to know what genitalia she had between 2010 and 2021.
Employees made fun of identifying as chickens and horses to belittle her gender identity. People slammed her in the hallways and repeatedly played Aerosmith’s “Dude (Looks Like a Lady).” A manager reportedly yelled at her for not supporting conversion therapy after cracking gay jokes as a pre-meeting ice-breaker, “badly” used her deadname, and allegedly yelled at her as a result. A colleague allegedly sexually assaulted her in 2019, which escalated the abuse.
She said in a Tuesday appointment, “It felt like a regular danger.”
Rasmussen alleges that the business allegedly broke the country’s rules preventing harassment, retaliation, and discrimination at work. She claims that because she is trans and a lesbian, employees and managers at Boeing were able to abuse her because of this, and that this culture discouraged those who had personally disagreed with her treatment from speaking out in order to avoid being fired. Rasmussen, who was fired from a La place at the company this year to escape the abuse, is suing for lost wages and damages.
Boeing’s opinion on the dispute was not made.
Rasmussen claimed that some employees stopped working with her shortly after starting hormone replacement therapy. Some people stopped introducing themselves to her, and others stopped providing her with the information she needed to perform her duties. She wrote to HR after coming out that she felt like a “zoo creature” because everyone was talking about her without speaking to her.
According to the lawsuit, workers showed before-and-after pictures of her around the company and informed new hires that she was transgender. Her boss reportedly approved other people doing it despite an internal legislation that forbids forced outing.
She said, “It felt like I was transgender, there are restrooms it, and here’s the day clock.” As far as I could tell, I was unmasked by each new employee.
Several times a year, Rasmussen complained of abuse, but the complaint claims Boeing’s Human Resources Department did not respond. HR once informed her that her colleagues needed some time to adjust to her move. HR characterized the debate as a personality conflict when Rasmussen complained that managers and coworkers had refused to work with her and that the company was not “force people to like you or speak to you.”
In 2019, a female employee allegedly shoved a stick through Rasmussen’s legs while she was conversing with another staff, which heightened the harassment. She claimed the incident was sexual harassment, telling Human Resources that she felt the keep eat her genitalia and get between her thighs as she ran away. The worker had previously touched her biologically and had sent her inappropriate texts, according to the lawsuit. The staff was given the same punishment Rasmussen received for park tickets as Rasmussen, but this time the business suspended him for a single day. Before Boeing transferred the same individual to a different facility, he remained employed in the same tower for a time.
Another Boeing worker who was upset about the event later removed a “trans right” sticker from their locker in protest of the alleged abuse. The welcoming individual referred to it as retribution when employees used brooms to remove those items from that bag. Afterwards, when managers printed and hung a picture of a crying infant to insult people who reported their concerns, they did everything.
By January 2021, she was contemplating death due to work situations. She had given up hope, and she had to defend herself by giving up decades of seniority and union protection in exchange for a lower-paying La position designed to encourage more women to join the business. When she heard a group of six Boeing employees support a comparison between trans people and pedophiles, abuse continued even in that position.
In January, the business fired her. She applied for 29 jobs she claimed she was qualified for, but the company just offered her entry-level jobs because she wanted to stay at Boeing. She is also unemployed.
Rasmussen expressed concern for the employees at the business, and she hopes her petition will inspire change in the organization, which is already under scrutiny for the protection of its aircraft.
Everyone should be able to have access to a non-retaliatory, non-harassment healthy environment where they can raise concerns, whether it be for their safety or that of a colleague, she said.
