Former employee sues Boeing, alleges company discriminated against her for being a transgender, lesbian woman

EVERETT, Wash. — After a decades-long career at Boeing, Rachel Rasmussen 
filed suit against the company. She alleges Boeing employees and managers 
created a hostile work environment, violating the Washington Law Against 
Discrimination. She also alleges the retaliation she suffered for 
reporting harassment violated the WLAD.  

Rasmussen said it started in 2010 when she made the decision to align her 
physical appearance with her gender identity; she transitioned to living 
as a woman. 

"I knew at 5 years old. Coming to accept myself is a long story on its 
own, but by 2010, I could no longer live with that pain. I just wanted it 
to stop," she said. 

This transition came after a career with Boeing, which started in 1989. 
After years of work, Boeing promoted Rasmussen to Crane Mechanic in 2007. 
It was a position she thought would be her job until retirement.

"I really enjoyed that work. I made a career out of facilities work, site 
maintenance," Rasmussen said. "You've probably seen the cranes carrying 
the airplane parts. That was largely my focus."

According to the lawsuit, however, her 2010 transition is when the decade-
long harassment began. The suit says Rasmussen's coworkers and manager 
placed a target on her back by regularly outing her as transgender to new 
employees, vandalizing her property and shouldering her into hallways, 
telling homophobic jokes, and using homophobic slurs. Still, worst of all, 
the suit says a coworker sexually assaulted Rasmussen in front of others.

"It was an extremely humiliating experience where a broomstick was shoved 
in my genitals," Rasmussen said. 

According to the lawsuit, the sexual assault was only a small snapshot of 
the harassment, accusing Boeing employees of the following: grabbing 
Rasmussen's butt, asking about her genitals, asking if she pees standing 
up, comparing transgender people to pedophiles, and mocking Rasmussen's 
gender identity. According to Rasmussen, her supervisor knew of the 
harassment but "gazed on indifferently."

The lawsuit, which is below, provides documentation of the sexual assault, 
emails Rasmussen sent and received after the incidents, along with 
pictures showing some of the retaliation that's alleged in the suit.

Jay Free, Rasmussen's lawyer, said he hopes this will change the culture 
at Boeing. 

"Boeing's made repeated promises that are hollow about safety, caring 
about their employees, inclusivity. It's time they turn that into action," 
he said. 

"They tell you to speak up with any sort of concerns. When I would speak 
up, my concerns were met with silence," Rasmussen said. "Everybody at 
Boeing and in the state of Washington should feel safe to come to work, a 
harassment-free environment, should feel safe to speak up with concerns."

When asked about the lawsuit, Boeing declined to comment.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/former-employee-sues-boeing-
alleges-company-discriminated-against-her-for-being-transgender/281-
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