Rachel Rasmussen, who worked for Boeing for several decades, has launched a complaint against the business. The lawsuit claims that Boeing employees and management created a hostile work environment, breaching the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD).
Rasmussen claims that the retribution she faced after reporting harassment violated the WLAD. The alleged mistreatment began in 2010, when she decided to align her physical appearance with her gender identity, signalling her transition to live as a woman.
This change came after Rasmussen’s extended tenure at Boeing, which began in 1989. After years of hard work, Boeing elevated Rasmussen to crane mechanic in 2007, a job she hoped to keep until her retirement.
She stated that she enjoyed her job and built a career out of facility work-site maintenance. However, the lawsuit alleges that her transition in 2010 marked the beginning of a decade-long era of harassment. The civil suit claims that Rasmussen’s coworkers and manager targeted her by habitually disclosing her transgender identity to new employees, vandalising her property, physically forcing her into hallways, making homophobic jokes, and using homophobic insults. The lawsuit claims that a coworker sexually abused Rasmussen in front of others.
Rasmussen claims that her boss was aware of the harassment but did nothing to address it. She stated that every time she attempted to report these incidents, she was hushed.
The lawsuit includes evidence of the sexual assault, emails exchanged prior to and during the occurrences, and images depicting some of the alleged retribution.
Rasmussen’s lawyer, Jay Free, hopes that the lawsuit will result in a culture shift within Boeing.
The corporation has yet to reply to the situation.
