In January 2023, I wrote a piece on my predictions for what we might expect in the labor/employment law world in 2023. As 2023 draws to a close, let’s see how I did.

Prediction: Litigation over employee pronoun preference.

Pronouns have come a long way since we learned about them in grammar school and have become the subject of much debate. I predicted that debate would find its way to the courts. That’s happened in at least two cases over the last year.

In Faulkenberry v. U.S. Dep’t of Defense, Case No: 1:22-cv-01150, 2023 WL 3074639 (D. Md. Apr. 25, 2023), the plaintiff (a transgender woman) alleged unlawful discrimination and harassment after she corrected an interviewer with her preferred pronouns during an interview. She alleged that the interviewer expressed “disinterest” in hiring her after the exchange. The court dismissed her claims, finding that the incident in question was not “severe and pervasive” enough to constitute harassment, nor was there enough evidence to connect the remarks to the prospective employer’s failure to hire her.

In contrast, in MacDonald v. Brewer School Dep’t., 651 F. Supp. 3d 243 (D. Me. 2023), the plaintiff was a cisgender female teacher. (I admittedly had to look up the term cisgender. It means a person whose gender identity corresponds with the sex assigned at birth). She advocated to the superintendent and school board that all individuals who express a pronoun preference should have that preference respected. After she was passed...

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