D.C. Jury Awards $930K to Trans McDonald’s Employee for Bias
“I feel extremely grateful for the result of the court case. I feel blessed,” says Diana Portillo, a transgender immigrant who recently won a historic judgment relating to a discrimination and harassment lawsuit against the owner of the McDonald’s franchise for which she worked. “I always had faith in God that it was going to turn out right.”In August, Portillo was awarded $930,000 by a D.C.
Superior Court jury for the discrimination she experienced due to her gender identity, as well as retaliation for complaining while employed in 2013 at a McDonald’s on Georgia Ave.
in Northwest D.C.The financial award includes $700,000 in punitive damages, and $230,000 for emotional distress, pain, and suffering.
The jury’s verdict is believed to be the first-ever handed down in favor of a transgender employee who sued for discrimination based on gender identity under the DC Human Rights Act.“Diana exhibited enormous courage and conviction from the time she first asked to have her gender identity respected throughout her employment,” says Jonathan Puth, one of her lawyers from Correia & Puth, PLLC, a D.C.-based law firm specializing in employment disputes. “After she was fired, she knew her rights and stood up for them.
