When Inclusion Is Tested: An Open Letter to M&S Leadership
In recent days, Marks & Spencer has come under scrutiny for its handling of a customer complaint targeting an employee perceived to be transgender in one of its stores. While M&S has publicly stated its commitment to inclusion, its response to this incident appears to have undermined that commitment and left the employee exposed to serious abuse.
Equality Amplified has written to the M&S leadership team, urging them to take immediate action not only to support this colleague but also to ensure that all trans and gender non-conforming staff are protected, respected, and treated with dignity.
Our full letter is below with alt text underneath.
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Subject: When Inclusion Is Tested, Actions Matter; Support Your Employees
Dear Marks and Spencer Leadership Team
We are writing on behalf of Equality Amplified to raise serious concerns about your handling of a recent incident involving a shop assistant employed in one of your stores, who offered professional, routine assistance to a young customer in the lingerie department.
As you’re aware, following this interaction the girl’s mother lodged a complaint objecting to the employee’s perceived gender identity. In response, M&S reportedly apologised to the customer and stated that “female staff” would assist the girl in future. Though your wider statements about allowing colleagues to work in all areas regardless of gender identity are welcome, the initial response and reported follow-up actions appear to undercut that position, have raised alarm and opened your employee to vicious transphobic abuse.
Let us be clear: Your employee did nothing wrong. Their conduct was respectful, appropriate, and in line with her duties. The fact that their identity, rather than their behaviour, was the target of the complaint should have led M&S to firmly back them, not publicly distance itself. The message sent instead is that trans and gender non-conforming staff may be thrown under the bus to appease prejudice.
Our key concerns are as follows:
1. Failure to support a vulnerable employee
In not defending your trans colleague against a discriminatory complaint founded in transphobia, M&S has signalled to all trans and gender non-conforming staff that their basic rights, dignity, and safety are conditional. This incident has not occurred in a vacuum. The employee is now facing targeted abuse online, including attempts to dox them and expose their identity. Known anti-trans campaigners have already weaponised the situation. This puts their personal safety and mental health at risk.
2. Legal duties to protect staff from harassment and harm
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act, employers must protect workers from workplace violence, including harassment and abuse from customers or third parties. That obligation doesn’t stop when a complaint is framed politely or disguised as a matter of preference. If left unchallenged, transphobic abuse, however veiled, can escalate into real-world threats, and there is growing concern this employee may be targeted in person. This is a security issue, not just a PR concern.
3. Undermining your own inclusion commitments
While you’ve reaffirmed that all staff can work in any department, your actions suggest those rights are negotiable. Conditional inclusion isn’t inclusion. Appeasing bigotry by reassigning or apologising for a staff member’s presence sends a dangerous signal that a customer’s discomfort matters more than an employee’s humanity.
4. Reinforcing transphobia in public life
Accepting complaints that hinge on someone being trans or gender non-conforming doesn’t just impact your staff, it legitimises a wider, coordinated campaign to push trans and gender non-conforming people out of public spaces. It tells others that if they complain loudly enough, they too can demand the removal of a trans person from sight. That’s not neutrality; it’s complicity.
What ask M&S to:
1. Publicly affirm the employee
We ask that you issue a clear and unambiguous statement that your colleague did their job correctly and that M&S will not tolerate prejudice against any member of staff, regardless of public or media pressure.
2. Strengthen staff protections
Make it clear that discriminatory complaints will not be upheld, and that M&S stands by all its employees, including trans and gender non-conforming colleagues, in public-facing roles.
3. Improve training and response protocols
Train managers and frontline staff on how to handle discriminatory customer behaviour in line with your own policies and the Equality Act 2010. The default response should never be to validate bigotry, no matter how it’s dressed up.
4. Engage with LGBTQIA+ organisations
Work with experienced advocacy groups to audit and improve your policies, training, and internal communications to ensure consistency, especially when incidents like this arise.
M&S has a long-standing reputation for inclusion. But reputations are shaped not just by statements, but by actions taken when that inclusion is tested. Trans and gender non-conforming people deserve more than tolerance; they deserve protection, dignity, and the same respect given to any other member of staff.
We would welcome the opportunity to speak with your HR and diversity teams and offer further support and can suggest other trans and LGBTQ+ groups to work with. We urge you to do the right thing; not just for this employee, but for every trans and LGBTQ+ person who looks to you as a major UK employer.
Sincerely,
Equality Amplified