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A transgender employee has successfully claimed his employer discriminated against him, after it stored his former name and allowed it to be disclosed during internal recruitment processes.

The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal rejected that retaining a record of the employee's former name was necessary for background checks; it also found the employer's conduct during proceedings warranted an order for aggravated damages, awarding the employee $35k in total.

The employee had joined NSW Health Service in 2020, and most recently worked in the Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSWLHD) providing specialist counselling services. In June 2023, after applying internally for a specialist child support program coordinator role, he received a phone call from a colleague – a support services officer (SSO) – to confirm his previous name as part of the recruitment process security checks.

The employee had not used that name since legally changing it in 2012, after he began transitioning to live as a man. He presents as a man and considers his transgender status a "private matter" shared only with his most intimate and trusted connections, fearing prying and hostile treatment...