A rising star at LaSalle, a husband with two children, is going to become Stephanie through a process known as gender transition Henrietta Mercer: The senior vice president for human resources at LaSalle Chemical Karl Diener: The CEO of LaSalle, asked Henrietta for regular updates on the problems LaSalle might face as result of Steve's gender transition Alex Grant: CatalCon's top salesman who is the main connection to CatalCon customer base The situation; LaSalle, a Fortune 1000 company headquartered in Aurora, Illinois, that provided products and services to oil-drilling, refinery, and pollution-control businesses, had acquired CatalCon, a company in Detroit that sold fluid catalytic cracking technology to petrochemical businesses. Karl had handpicked Steve to lead the change initiative and appointed him group sales director. Steve had begun to embark the steps in the transition process: electrolysis, voice lessons, hormone therapy, facial feminization surgery, genital surgery. What were the legal implications of changing gender? What about gender reassignment surgeries? And what would Steve's colleagues and customers think? Alex believes this issue is not a question of adjusting. It's a moral issue, not a medical one. Henrietta knew that about 25% of the leading U.S. companies had policies in place to protect employees against discrimination based on gender identity. However, Alex might rather leave the company than be engaged in this issue. LaSalle needs both these guys. How can Henrietta help Steve transition in a company where not everybody is on board?

1. What are the likely consequences (both negative and positive) of allowing Steve to keep his current position as he transitions, both for Steve and for others?

2. What are the issues presented by Alex? How should they be resolved?

3. How should the company handle clients and employees who object to Steve's decision? Talk about the issue and the solution, along with possible push back from all involved.

4. What is the MA State Law around transitioning in the workplace (look it up, start with GLAD.org)?