26 nurses expressed their concerns in a March letter to the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, which sparked the legal action.
There are no private cubicles at Darlington Memorial Hospital, so the nurses have to change into and out of their scrubs twice a day.
Some foreign nurses allegedly wanted to sign the letter but refrained because they were afraid of losing their employment and having their passports revoked.
One of the claimants, Bethany Hutchison, claims they have felt frightened because of a male employee who has not transitioned but still identifies as a woman.
The woman stated: “There have been times when I’ve been in the locker room by myself with a colleague who looks really manly, and that was really shocking because you kind of wanted to challenge them, like, ‘Oh, there’s a man in the changing room,’ but you couldn’t because of the trust’s policy.”
A nurse who experienced sexual abuse has voiced her objections to the hospital’s policy, claiming that having a transgender coworker in a small environment makes her PTSD worse.
We’re just regular nurses, Lisa Lockey, another of the women, said to News. Is it asking too much to have a pleasant, private changing area.
