B.C. Tribunal Orders LifeLabs to Pay $32,000 for Misgendering Patients

British Columbia’s Human Rights Tribunal has ordered LifeLabs and its subsidiary Excelleris Technologies to pay $32,000 to three transgender and non-binary patients whom its staff misgendered or outed at labs in Vancouver and Burnaby in 2019.

The Ruling

The decision, dated Oct. 29 and posted Nov. 3, awarded Noa Moses and Devan Snow each $15,000 for injury to dignity, and Vincent Viezzer $2,000. LifeLabs also owes almost $3,000 in lost wages, plus $11,100 for the expert report and testimony by Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc, a University of British Columbia nursing professor.

What the Tribunal Found

Noa Moses, described in the decision as “a non-binary transgender person,” went to a LifeLabs location in Vancouver on Oct. 10, 2019. Staff asked whether they were male or female, and Noa answered “neither.” The decision states that “this back-and-forth went on for about an hour.”

Devan Snow, described as “a transmasculine person who does not identify as male or female,” visited a LifeLabs patient service centre in Burnaby on Oct. 12, 2019. The decision says Snow’s requests had become a “huge thing,” and “the people in the waiting area could hear his voice and were staring at him.”

Vincent Viezzer, who “identifies as a man, a man of transgender experience, and a trans man,” visited a Vancouver LifeLabs in July 2019. His form ended up with “a circle around the ‘M’ with the letters ‘FTM’ handwritten slightly below.” Tribunal member Theressa Etmanski wrote that she was “satisfied on a balance of probabilities that LifeLabs staff did write the notation.”

Required Changes

Within six months, LifeLabs must take reasonable steps so trans and non-binary patients have, and know about, “the option of a private space to discuss or answer questions relating to their sex or gender.” Within a year, it must train “all staff and management in British Columbia” on those patients’ privacy. It has 18 months to correct, remove, or otherwise mask the misgendering from Noa’s and Snow’s 2019 visits.

The tribunal credited LifeLabs with “significant efforts to train their staff” since the 2019 visits and found the staff conduct was not malicious, pointing instead to “the Respondents’ policies and procedures.” LifeLabs is owned by Quest Diagnostics of New Jersey since Aug. 26, 2024, and runs “approximately 130” laboratories and patient service centres in B.C.

Why it matters

The ruling reinforces B.C.’s 2016 addition of “gender identity or expression” to its Human Rights Code and sets deadlines for private spaces, staff training, and record corrections at LifeLabs facilities in the province.

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Sources

• gayety.com: LifeLabs Misgendering Ruling: $32,000 for Trans Patients - Gayety
• canadianinquirer.net: LifeLabs ordered to pay $32,000 after B.C. tribunal finds discrimination against transgender patients - Philippine Canadian Inquirer Nationwide Filipino Newspaper

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.