Tamara Lusardi v. John M. McHugh, Secretary, Department of the Army

Tamara Lusardi (plaintiff) was employed at the United States Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (the agency) under Secretary John M. McHugh (defendant). In 2007 Lusardi informed her supervisor that she was going to begin the gender-transitioning process to live as a woman. In 2010 Lusardi legally changed her name and sex and spoke with two supervisors about a gender-transition plan. At the meeting, Lusardi and the supervisors agreed that Lusardi would use the private executive restroom rather than the woman’s restroom to allow the other employees time to adjust to Lusardi’s new gender. Lusardi used the executive restroom except for a few occasions when it was out of order or being cleaned. In these instances, Lusardi used the women’s restroom and was disciplined by her supervisors. Lusardi was then informed by her supervisors that she would not be permitted to use the women’s restroom until she had undergone surgery to become biologically female and that, as part of her gender-transition plan, she had to obtain approval prior to accessing the women’s restroom. Lusardi filed a Title VII sex-discrimination complaint with the agency. The agency found that Lusardi had failed to prove sex discrimination because requiring employees to use the restroom associated with their sex did not constitute an adverse employment action that violated Title VII. Lusardi appealed the agency’s decision to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.