Human Resource Blog

Called by Name

	Management/Leadership
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My daughter is working for an employer who refuses to call her by her name. Her legal name at birth is Honey Bahre. They have cut her hours and told her she needs to change her name or there will be future penalties. Her coworker refuses to call her by her name becasue she does not want anyone walking by to think she is gay and the supervisor has gone along with this. Since all other employees are called by their first name is it legal for them to require her to change her name simply because they do not like it? Please advise. We live in Arizona.

This is unfair to your daughter, but it may require a lawsuit for the employer to see the error of his or her ways. Your daughter’s name, pronounced “Honey Bear” is certainly unusual. And unfortunately, there’s no law against discriminating against people with unusual names in the workplace (unless the name is indicitive of their ethnic group, religion or national ancestry.) However, the coworker’s objection — that if she calls your daughter “Honey” people will think she is gay — is paranoid and homophobic. (Unfortunately, in most states that’s not illegal.) One solution would be for all the employees to wear nametags. Customers could easily see that your daughter’s given name is “Honey” and while it would create some comments, they would understand that the other employees are not in love with her. Another solution would be for the coworkers to call her “Ms. Bahre.”

It’s bizarre that the employer puts up with this coworker’s behavior. Presumably, they knew your daughter’s name before hiring her. Does your daughter really want to continue to work for such an idiot?