by Owen Bowcott

A gender-fluid/non-binary engineer who suffered abuse and harassment at Jaguar Land Rover has won a landmark discrimination case.

Rose Taylor, who worked at the Midlands car manufacturer and changed the way she presented in 2017, has won what is believed to be the first claim of its kind.

Until now, there was uncertainty over whether Equality Act protections covered those who who fell into the category of gender fluid/non-binary. Although the case, heard at an employment tribunal, does not technically establish a legal precedent, it is bound to be influential in similar claims.

The ruling was delivered by Employment Judge Hughes at a Birmingham tribunal earlier this week. A further hearing next month will establish what damages Taylor should be awarded.

After Taylor, who had been an engineer with Jaguar Land Rover for more than 20 years, began wearing – usually – women’s clothes, she suffered insults and abusive jokes. She said she did not receive support from the management and won her constructive dismissal claim.

Part of the argument was whether being gender fluid/non-binary was a protected characteristic under section 7 of the 2010 Equality Act. The protected characteristics covered in the act are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Read more via Guardian