Job quota: They demand the reinstatement of a fired trans woman
A transgender woman was fired from the Ministry of Economy in December. She is demanding compliance with the employment quota law and denouncing discrimination and harassment.
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Natasha Narmona, 44, is the first trans woman to be hired at the Ministry of Economy through the Transgender Employment Quota Law . After experiencing discriminatory treatment, being reassigned to another position, being left without work, and receiving a meager salary, she was fired last November. At the time, she was on medical leave and under union protection.
Despite the lack of updated records, the State Workers' Association (ATE) asserts that the dismissal of transgender, transvestite, and non-binary people in the public sector continues. In Javier Milei's first year in office, people who had been hired through the Quota Law were dismissed
“I’m in an urgent legal battle,” Natasha tells this agency. She filed an injunction for her reinstatement, while living without income, compensation, or unemployment insurance. She is caring for her elderly mother and surviving on the bare minimum, thanks to the Fight Fund and the help of her friends.
“She was dismissed under union protection, she was on medical leave, and she had also been hired through the trans job quota. Being dismissed in that context becomes discriminatory both because of her union activity and because of her gender . In addition, she was on medical leave,” explained her lawyer, Eliana Bagnera, a member of the ATE Capital legal team, Presentes
Discrimination and harassment
Natasha began working at the Ministry of Economy of the Nation in October 2021 under the framework of the Law for the Promotion of Access to Formal Employment for Transvestite, Transsexual and Transgender People “Diana Sacayán – Lohana Berkins” (No. 27,636).
During her first year, she worked at the Tax Policy Secretariat and participated in the Gender-Sensitive Taxation Observatory. At that time, she was recognized with the allocation of 160 Remunerative Units (UR) . In 2022, she was transferred to the Economic Directorate for Equality and Gender, which was dissolved during the current administration of Javier Milei. Following this, Natasha was transferred to another department. There, she remained for twenty months without assigned tasks, despite sending repeated memos to her superiors to inform them of her situation and request work.
During her years in public administration, she has experienced various forms of discrimination, which have worsened under the current libertarian administration. Without prior notice, she was denied access to the designated restroom at her workplace and instead told to use a unisex restroom in another building.
“There’s a before and after with the current government. Everything has happened to me. They’ve called me dirty, told me I wasn’t a transvestite, that I took advantage of the quota to change jobs and do nothing. They criticized me for being a union member, said I was problematic, lazy, stupid. They asked me if I hadn’t taken my medication, referring to my medication for depression,” she describes.
Natasha recounts that the harassment and exclusion she endured led to two hospitalizations. “I am currently undergoing treatment for depression, linked to my gender dysphoria, the economic hardship I am experiencing, and the experiences of violence and workplace harassment I have endured,” she says.
The consequences
In November of last year, Natasha was on long-term medical leave when on the 12th of that month she received a notification via GDE (Electronic Document Management) from Human Resources indicating the termination of her contract.
Psychiatrist Martina Cid, who treated Natasha, sent a clinical report and a request for protection to the Human Resources Department. In it, she requested that the Department “review the patient’s employment situation and consider her reinstatement under conditions of protection and reasonable accommodation, given that job stability is a central therapeutic factor for her recovery.”.
“The patient presents with a severe emotional state, with long-standing depressive and anxious symptoms, currently exacerbated by a context of chronic work-related stress, harassment, and previously documented instances of discrimination. This is compounded by factors of social and economic vulnerability that have deepened her emotional distress,” the request detailed. It also stated that the dismissal, which was notified while she was on medical leave, acted as “a critical trigger.”.
No regulations are being followed
At the time of her dismissal, Natasha was under union protection. “In 2023, she was elected as a delegate for UPCN. From 2023 to 2025, she held a union mandate and had union protection that prevented her dismissal or changes to her duties until 2026. If the employer wanted to dismiss her, modify her working conditions, or suspend her, they would have to initiate legal proceedings. A judge would then decide whether or not to lift the protection so that the dismissal could take place. That didn't happen,” explains lawyer Bagnera.
She added, “She was on medical leave and had also been hired through the trans job quota. The quota is supposed to be 1% filled, something that doesn't happen in many organizations, including the Ministry of Economy. It is mandatory by law for each organization to comply.”.
Due to Natasha's situation, a precautionary measure was filed in the Labor Court, but the National Court of First Instance for Labor Matters No. 15, with the signature of the substitute judge Claudia A. Fonatiña González, declared itself incompetent. The team representing her appealed this decision.
The attack against trans people
Currently, it barely manages to support itself financially through a Collective Struggle Fund that receives donations to the alias despdidxseconomia .
Natasha's situation is not unique. According to the latest available report, "Implementation and dismissals of the trans, gender non-binary employment quota" (January 2025), at least 150 trans, gender non-binary (TTNB) workers in the national public sector were dismissed during the first year of Javier Milei's administration. Of these, 50 were reinstated: 33 through union action, seven through injunctions, three through administrative channels, and data is unavailable for the remaining seven.
However, the dismissal of trans and gender-diverse people in the public sector continues. “Now on a smaller scale, but it continues,” Clarisa Gambera, Secretary of Gender and Diversity at ATE Nacional Presentes .
The strategy being pursued at the national level by the State Workers' Association is to advance through legal channels to reverse discriminatory dismissals.
“We filed twenty injunctions for people from different provinces and the AMBA (Greater Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area). We had reinstatements with important rulings that recognize discrimination and the importance of restoring work as a gateway to other rights, and that if work is lost, so is access to health, housing, and education,” Gambera explained.
“We have hundreds of layoffs,” she adds, “but we managed to make people understand the significance of this setback in relation to a historic achievement. aren't just any layoffs. The situation of vulnerability is extreme and reflects many layers of violence accumulated throughout their lives. It's a limited group, but very relevant if we consider that the law was intended to provide redress. The discrimination and violence against this group is tremendous. Denying the quota jeopardizes the Gender Identity Law and other regulations .”
Other cases
Over the past two years, the Judiciary has ordered the reinstatement of transgender and transvestite individuals to their jobs in several cases. In July 2024, the National Labor Appeals Court and the Federal Administrative Court No. 11, in separate rulings, ordered the reinstatement of two transgender workers dismissed from ANSES (National Social Security Administration) and the Education Secretariat of the Ministry of Human Capital. In another ruling, this time dismissed from the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (INCAA) was ordered
“I’m not the only one going through this; there are many more of us. Trans people lack representation, and the little representation we do have—the job quota—is being taken away from us. We need to fill a political space so that trans people are represented, and so that this right isn’t trampled on,” Natasha concluded.
Those who wish to collaborate with Natasha can do so at the Collective Struggle Fund, which receives donations under the alias despdidxseconomia.
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