I have a feeling its extremely complicated....!!! And a total minefield!I sympathise with you all having to put up with this pain in the arse. It does make me wonder what is the legal position on all of this?
If 2x colleagues are having a conversation, not connected to work, are they not permitted to say something factual? Eg Sam Smith is male or TIM's are still men, or biological men should not be housed in female prisons?
Would HR deem this as an transphobic - a conversation, to a colleague, discussing facts with no intention to offend anyone?
There was a woman who recently won her case against BT for racial discrimination at work.
She was American, and got upset because of a couple of instances of what were proved to be racial discrimination. She had left her job citing stress and anxiety and took the company to court.
The 2 instances used were: as a US national, she needed to renew her work visa. Her manager tried to intervene on her behalf and told HR I assume that she might be deported if they didnt sort out the work visa paperwork. This remark caused her stress and led to her being anxious and having to stay at home off work.
This was then made worse after, with a comment made in an evening discussion whilst the team were at an evening meal, whilst working overnight in Northern Ireland. ( which surely isnt a work situation? ) about whether or not she could swim, and her colleague wondering why so many black women didnt swim.
Apparently its because of something about the texture of peoples hair? And its racist because in the USA there is a history of black people not being able to use swimming pools that white people used? A history which I doubt many UK residents have a clue about?