A female NHS Fife worker was suspended for three months after she complained about having to share a changing room with a trans woman.
The staff member is now taking legal action against the health board over claims it has breached the Equality Act.
The woman is still being investigated by NHS Fife, more than six months after she first raised her concerns.
Her case was raised by the Alba Party’s Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy candidate, Neale Hanvey, who said her treatment was “utterly scandalous”.
The Fife health worker was in a changing room late at night last year when her colleague, a trans woman, started to undress in front of her.
The woman said she felt “intimidated and embarrassed,” but her colleague maintained they had a right to be there.
The trans woman later complained about the incident – and the female health worker was put on “special leave”.
In January this year, she was suspended from work as a probe was launched into her “alleged unwanted behaviours towards another member of NHS Fife staff”.
Current NHS guidance allows transgender men and women to use the toilets and changing rooms which align with their gender identity.
The Scottish Government’s botched reforms to make it easier for transgender people to self-identify proved controversial and were later blocked by Westminster.
Mr Hanvey, who was still an MP when this case first emerged, referred to the suspended health worker to charity Sex Matters.
He said: “Although I was unable to get directly involved in an employment case, I was able to put her in touch with the team at Sex Matters who have been outstanding in their support for the sex-based rights of women in the workplace.
“The question every candidate now must answer before the people vote is whether they think women are entitled to their sex-based protections in the workplace or not.”
The Courier asked First Minister John Swinney about the row while he was campaigning in Glasgow on Saturday.
He told us: “I don’t know the detail of the case, but I’ll look at that with care.
“It’s important that the legislative arrangements that are in place under the Equalities Act to protect single sex spaces are applied in practice.
“That thinking and rationale is important to be applied in practice in all circumstances.”
NHS Fife was contacted for comment.
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