Police department pulls job offer after learning applicant is transgender, lawsuit says
Britton Hamilton was offered a job as a New Orleans Police Department officer after passing a civil service exam and a physical agility test — on the condition of passing a medical and psychological exam.
He cleared the medical exam, which informed the department that he is a transgender man, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Louisiana.
However, troubles with his onboarding followed after he was asked questions related to being transgender, including “how do your parents feel about your transition?” during his psychological exam, the complaint says.
Then, Hamilton’s job offer was suddenly pulled on Jan. 26, 2021, according to the complaint filed on June 22.
The police department is accused of refusing to hire Hamilton because he is transgender, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act 1964, which prohibits job discrimination based on sex, the complaint says.
“I was caught off guard when I saw that because I’ve been transitioning for over six years,” Hamilton told TV station WDSU when he learned the job offer was rescinded. “My name is changed, my gender is changed, I’m married since 2018, legally everyone looks at — look at me, I’m a man.”
Hamilton is now suing the City of New Orleans, which oversees its police department. Attorneys from Sternberg, Naccari, and White LLC law firm, based in New Orleans, are representing him.
The New Orleans Police Department declined a request for comment from McClatchy News on July 13, as the lawsuit is pending. McClatchy News contacted the city for comment on July 13 and didn’t receive an immediate response.
“We are confident in Mr. Hamilton’s case and look forward to this matter being heard by the court,” attorney Chelsea Brener Cusimano, of Sternberg, Naccari, and White LLC, told McClatchy News in a statement on July 13.
The lawsuit comes after Hamilton filed a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The federal agency launched an investigation and granted him the right to sue on March 28, according to the complaint.
The hiring problems following questions about his transition
After Hamilton received the conditional job offer from the New Orleans Police Department in December 2020, the department’s hired psychologist questioned him about his experience as a transgender man during the psychological exam, the complaint says.
These types of questions weren’t asked of Hamilton’s co-applicant, a heterosexual man who he befriended during the application process, and violated his rights protected under federal law, according to the complaint.
The questions included how Hamilton’s parents’ and wife feel about his transition, how it affected him and whether he’d seen a counselor about his transition, the complaint says.
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s friend and co-applicant told him he wasn’t asked about his experience as a heterosexual man, how it affected him and whether he saw a health professional in relation to it, according to the complaint.
Afterward, Hamilton began dealing with hiring problems his friend didn’t face, the complaint says.
The police department told Hamilton that it needed to see his military medical records from when he served in the U.S. Army before his transition, according to the lawsuit.
While in the process of retrieving and providing these records, his job offer was rescinded “for the stated reason that he failed the psychological and behavioral characteristics of the exam,” the complaint says.
Why the department said Hamilton failed the exam
In proceedings with the EEOC, the New Orleans Police Department accused Hamilton of being dishonest about his discharge from the military in 2009 and said he wasn’t hired because he wasn’t qualified, according to the complaint.
The department told the EEOC Hamilton lied by saying he left the Army due to meningitis when Army records said he left for headaches and chronic sinus disease, the complaint says.
Another reason the department said Hamilton wasn’t hired was because he didn’t pay his medical bills for years, according to the complaint.
Hamilton argues several heterosexual New Orleans police officers have unpaid bills but were hired, the complaint shows.
With no known transgender police officers employed by the department when Hamilton applied, the department took back “Mr. Hamilton’s offer of employment, due to his transgender status,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit seeks to recover relief for Hamilton over economic damages, including loss of pay, and non-economic damages, including emotional distress and anxiety, according to the complaint. It demands a trial by jury.
According to a 2021 report by Insider, about 3,700 people in the U.S. belonged to the Transgender Community of Police & Sheriffs, an international peer-support and educational organization supporting transgender law enforcement employees.
Of its 6,000 international members, about 500 had publicly expressed their transgender identity at the time, Julie Callahan, the organization’s founder, told the outlet.
As for Hamilton, he told WDSU that he thought joining New Orleans’ police force would “be the ultimate opportunity” as the city is LGBTQ friendly.
“I want to serve the community and, especially people of color, who may now view police officers badly,” he said, according to the outlet.
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