Justice for Liri End Hess/SpeedwaysTacit Policy of Transgender LGBT Hate

My Wife Liriel Hamilton, who I call My Liri, was was discriminated against, harassed, forced to resigned, and then denied government unemployment benefits By Speedway because she is Male to Female Transgender. There is no price tag that can be put on shame, but we demand she be compensated by speedway for the denied unemployment of 3850 dollars, plus an additional 175.00 each additional week this travesty continues to deny her her legal unemployment. We demand an apology for her treatment at the hands of Speedway, and we demand workplace tolerance education for LGBT Issues become part of each employee of the company's mandatory job training.
We ask all people who feel such treatment and discrimination is wrong to sign our petition, and boycott Speedway and all its company affiliates until this wrong has been righted. Please read further for more information.
My wife, Liriel Hamilton, was an employee of Hess Express Store # 21519 (Speedway # 2511) at 90 north st in Salem Ma From March 3 2009 to April 19 2015 Which About a year ago was bought By Speedway..
This is her story:
She is openly Male to Female transgender. From the beginning of her employment at Hess which was recently bought by Speedway, her treatment was substandard to that of the other employees. She was only allowed to work at night, and alone, so that customers could not see her, and that she would not make other employees uncomfortable. While at Hess all employees are required to wear uniforms and look presentable, but she was given uniform criticism if she was not wearing full make up including beard filler to hide every possible trace of masculine appearance. Conversely, pressure was constantly applied on my wife to dress outside of the work place in a manner consistent with the gender on her driver's license. Religious pamphlets were left in her personal box which could only have been put there by other employees.
However jobs are hard to come by and she was loyal to the company, and able to justify it as something she could ignore to have a job that paid for rent and food and offered a little insurance.
She was the sole night employee on her shifts, meaning she was in charge of seeing to peoples gas, cigarette sales, food sales, restocking, and all janitorial duties with no break, and no second person to cover the counter while she was restocking or cleaning a bathroom. She did it all, and she never complained.
All other shifts have two or more people working the store, but often her fellow employees refused the janitorial and labor intensive duties, claiming they should be left to people, "Like Liriel." Management never chastised them and brow beat her when she would try to bring this or any of the other issues up to them.
Years passed and she asked for days shifts, but was always denied even when the positions were vacant. More years passed. My wife was in her thirties and a four year veteran, yet assistant management was offered to employees who had been with the company for under a year and were not 21. When she would ask about this, she was nicely but firmly told she should not expect any promotion, that it has nothing to do with quality of work, and she should understand what the "real issue," was.
My wife is a company girl. And she stayed, and preformed well. Though she continued to ask for day shifts as well after marrying me, and opportunities to advance, she was depressed by the repeated no's that had no explanations to them, only the implication that Hess would not have a transgender employee visible to the public.
When Speedway bought out Hess, this quiet tacit discrimination became worse. A now six year veteran of the store, still only allowed to work at night, still made to feel "less than" other employees if her make up was not just right, still denied all opportunity for advancement.
The end of her working relationship came about when her doctor told her she needed to undergo a serious treatment of physical therapy and cortisone shots for her back. Being the only restocker, mopper, janitor, cashier on her shift, and left to do work left undone by other shifts with no opportunity to even sit for eight hours had taken its toll.
She asked to take up to three months unpaid leave to undergo treatment. No money or insurance compensation was requested. Just that she be able to return to the job she had worked so hard at for six years, after her back and body had healed.
Speedway denied her, and offered her a verbal ultimatum both on the management level and corporate: Resign, accept one week vacation pay and apply for unemployment, or be fired. Either way it was made clear that Speedway would never hire her back.
So she resigned. Immediately, corporate offices some how "lost" her records and tried to say that she had worked for less than five years and thus was never entitled to the week's vacation pay, even though they themselves had made the offer. Faxing in every pay stub from the beginning of her employment to the very end still did nothing to make them follow through on their word.
This all happened at a time we had to move to a much smaller apartment, and that I, her wife, was pregnant. The gas station she worked at knew this, and said they would not help. Human resources knew this, and they too said they would not help, and corporate payroll knew this as well and still no one kept their word.
It was not until she applied for unemployment and told them what she had been told by Speedway, that suddenly corporate called HER to offer the week's vacation pay, saying there had been, saying there was a mix up. We received it and thought everything would be fine.
Sadly that has not been the end of it, Speedway contested her need to receive unemployment. They denied that an ultimatum was ever made. Her back ailment was not the kind of issue that would make her permanently disabled and unable to work again. It just needed time to heal, and she would have been an even more efficient worker than ever if that time had been given. It was not, and both her manager and the corporate office at speedway gave her an ultimatum, resign and take unemployment, or we fire you, and you get nothing. There was no reason to issue such an ultimatum after six years of above standard work, no reason not to hire her back.
Speedway fought to deny her claim with unemployment, even though the company would not have to pay one penny of the 175.00 week that the US Government thought she was entitled to. She was willing to meet all of unemployment's conditions: job hunting for jobs she could preform during her physical therapy, resume' work, working with unemployment together to find suitable employment and to pursue training for better opportunities.
Speedway denied making any kind of ultimatum. They did,verbally. First through her manager, then though his supervisor, and over several phone calls to her from the corporate office. However recording conversations without consent of both parties is illegal, and her request to have the ultimatum in writing was refused and resulted in a threat of firing on the spot.
We have been back and forth with unemployment, trying to get what she worked hard for and deserved, and some support to live on for months. Neither she nor I wanted to make this petition, because despite not treating her like a full person my wife is loyal to Speedway/Hess. She did not like the way she was treated, but since it seemed to be a company policy not an individual choice on the part of managers, supervisors, and coworkers, she still liked them as people.
Through our struggles with Speedway, formally Hess, in denying issuing the ultimatum, they have called my "Liri" a liar. In contesting unemployment they would not have to pay, the company has show it does not see Transgender Employees as lesser people, it does not see them as people at all.
I am no lawyer, nor can I afford one, but the entire ultimatum sounds illegal. The treatment of her before hand was discriminatory. The way she has been treated is WRONG.
We don't want a multi-million dollar law suit. We only want what she was promised. 175.00 dollars a week for 22 weeks of unemployment, 3850 dollars thus far. We demand Speedway make restitution of this money as they continue to deny her rights to it through the Government Unemployment.
We demand Speedway compensate Liriel Hamilton the Unemployment they saw she was denied, institute mandatory LGBT tolerance training, and offer an apology for their treatment of her. Until they do this, I and my wife will not buy one ounce of gas, one soda, one anything from them.
Right now, It is a two person boycott, but it does not have to be. if you believe that someone should not be denied basic workers rights and protections, discriminated against at any work place, and forced into an illegal ultimatum, then we ask that you sign this petition, and boycott all Speedways, all their affiliates, for gas and any other products they sell until they make this situation right.
Our goal is to reach 10,000 signatures, and spread awareness of this injustice through out public domain. We will personally send this to the president of Speedway:
Anthony R. Kenney President of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (Speedway)
Care Of Speedway
Attn: Customer Service Department
P.O. Box 1500
Springfield, OH 45501
1-800-643-1948
Please sign and share this petition. We want justice for Liri, but also justice for the many thousands of people who face discrimination in their workplace daily, simply for identifying differently as far as gender or sexual orientation. All people are equal, and everyone should be treated with dignity, respect, and honor.

Please sign and spread,

Kathryn Lee Hamilton