Despite Starbucks’ pro-trans efforts, transgender employees are complaining about how they’ve been treated

Starbucks coffee has tried present the image of a corporation that supports transgender ideology through its policies and its public relations efforts, but some employees say that those espoused values haven't always played out for them in the workplace.

A report published Thursday at Buzzfeed News details some of the problems that the company's transgender employees have run into while on the job, which include being outed by supervisors and having trouble getting their employee health insurance to cover "gender affirming" medical procedures.

The allegations leveled against the coffee company stand in contrast to the pro-trans image that it has attempted to craft over the years. The company announced that it would add sex change surgeries to its list of covered health benefits in 2013 and expanded what would be covered under that policy in 2018.

Tucker Jace Webb, described being greeted by a "dead name" — i.e., the name a transgender person used to go by — on the company's software for new hires and was told there was nothing to be done without a legal name change. Webb also told the outlet about how the company's health insurance wouldn't cover a transgender surgery and about being outed by a supervisor without consent.

A former employee who started working at Starbucks in 2018 also described being denied three times while trying to get a "top surgery" covered by company insurance.

"It was a really frustrating time and I started to not enjoy going to work as much," the former employee told the outlet. "It is a very new policy they'd just come out with in the past year or two, so I don't think they realized the high demand of their employees."

Yet another employee, Elaine Cao, recalled difficulties with getting reimbursed by company insurance for a transgender procedure that was paid for up-front, as being intentionally "misgendered" by a supervisor who the employees said later quit without disciplinary action being taken.

Cao says that while people in the company's headquarters may sincerely believe that they're helping their transgender workers, "they aren't doing enough to make sure that that is the case."

In a statement to Buzzfeed, a Starbucks spokesperson didn't comment on the individual claims made in the story, but is reaching out to people who have made complaints. The spokesperson also told the outlet that "intentional misgendering is not acceptable conduct at Starbucks."

Earlier this week, Starbucks UK made headlines with a video advertisement of a young transgender person being called by their preferred name at one of the company's locations. That ad coincided with the announcement that the company would partner with a charity organization that helps children access hormone treatment, among other things.