CUMMING, Ga. — A Forsyth County woman is suing her former employer of nearly 20 years after she says she was fired after coming out as transgender.
According to the lawsuit, Robyn Casias spent 16 years working for AT&T as Robert Lott, a married father of three. In 2017, Casias came out as transgender during a public meeting.
In the lawsuit, Casias claims that after that, her workload was significantly decreased, she was bounced around from team to team before eventually being fired in July 2020.
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Attorneys say that while Casias was presenting as Lott at work, her work was commended, even describing her as a “star employee,” according to the lawsuit.
It goes on to describe Casias’ work for AT&T, including assisting in bringing in billions of dollars in contracts and saving the company $10 million with an architecture rework.
In March 2017, the lawsuit says Casias began announcing her transition publicly to friends, family and the community, but continued to present as Lott at work due to fear of retaliation.
A few months later while at a week-long meeting, Casias announced that she was transgender at a company meeting in Dallas, Texas. She says the change in projects she was assigned and how she was treated was immediate.
At one point, coworkers told her a meeting in Dallas had been cancelled at the last minute, only to learn it had gone on without her.
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After three years of being bounced around and reporting discrimination to HR, Casias was informed that she was being terminated.
The lawsuit claims that this is because of her gender and as retaliation for her repeated HR complaints.
Casias is seeking $3 million in her lawsuit.
AT&T told Channel 2 Action News that they have not been served with a copy of the lawsuit, which was filed in the Northern District of Georgia on Dec. 22, and could not comment.
A spokesperson did release a statement saying they do not condone discrimination.
“We do not discriminate, nor do we tolerate discrimination of any kind, including based on individual’s gender, gender identity or sexual orientation,” a spokesperson wrote.
Channel 2 Action News reached out to the attorney listed in the lawsuit for Casias for a comment, but has not heard back.
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