בית המשפט
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The Economy Ministry celebrated Wednesday a National Labor Court (NLC) decision that it saw as a victory for transgender people.

The NLC determined last week that the Employment (Equal Opportunities) Law forbids discrimination against male or female employees on the grounds of their gender identity, a statement from the ministry said.

The statement – issued by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) at the Ministry of Economy – noted that the ruling comes just in time for the 2015 Tel Aviv Pride Week and its theme 'Tel Aviv Loves All Genders.'

The ruling was given during the appeal agreement of Marina Meshel, a transgender woman who claimed she had been fired due to her gender identity, in a lawsuit against the CET (Center for Educational Technology). The parties decided to compromise, with each party maitaining its claim.

The appeal was submitted against the decision of the Tel Aviv Labor Court, which determined that Meshel had not been fired from her work because she was transgender, but because she had "crossed the boundaries” of what she had been permitted to say during conversations she had held with female school students at the Center, regarding sexuality and gender identity.

As part of the appeal, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) at the Ministry of Economy submitted, through Adv. Tziona Koenig-Yair, the EEOC’s National Commissioner, and Shiri Lev-Ran, a position paper that surveyed what it said was “the sad state of the LGBT community in general, and of its transgender members in particular, in being accepted for employment and become properly integrated in the workplace.”

Adv. Koenig-Yair was formerly Director of the Israel Women's Network, a flagship New Israel Fund group.