A senior manager at TD Insurance was fired from a $210,000-a-year job, the bank says, over one line in her email signature, and she is now suing TD for more than $400,000. The line was "I am HIS ✝️". The rule TD says it broke is its email signature standard, which, according to the bank's statement of defence, prohibits personalization through "quotes, taglines, icons, images, slogans, or other personal statements."
The case is a lawsuit over a firing, with religion and pronouns running through it, and the allegations on both sides are unproven. Underneath it sits a question every company with more than one inbox eventually meets: who decides what goes in an email signature, and what happens when someone adds a line the company did not plan for.
What happened at TD Insurance
The account below comes from the statement of claim and the statement of defence, as reported by the National Post on September 29, 2026.
- October 2025. HR received a complaint about an employee who had added "Pronouns: I am HIS ✝️" to her signature. The complainant said it could be read as a micro-aggression against LGBTQ+ colleagues, and the employee was asked to remove the line.
- The solidarity line. Sonja Denobrega, an associate vice-president of underwriting operations who had joined TD a few months earlier, added "I am HIS ✝️" (without the word "pronouns") to her own signature. Her claim says TD's policy "only allowed for gender/sex identification and allowed no room for other identities."
- The meetings. Over several meetings with her manager and HR, TD asked her to remove the line, and she asked for a company-wide review of signature compliance and an escalation to the CEO. According to her claim, TD did send a reminder of its signature standards to about 10,000 staff in its insurance division.
- January 2026. TD dismissed her without notice, citing just cause. The bank says the dismissal was "solely due to her failure to comply with TD's standards regarding email signatures, which were explained to her on several occasions."
- The lawsuit. Filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, her claim alleges discrimination based on creed and age and seeks $235,000 in pay and bonuses for a 12-month notice period plus $210,000 in punitive and human rights damages.
TD's standard permits "only limited, optional identifiers such as personal pronouns," and the bank says reversing that "would be a breach of its obligations under the Canadian Human Rights Act."
Signature disputes come from every direction
The TD case is recent, and the pattern behind it is older. Three disputes put three different pressures on the same few lines of text:
- 1999, Indiana. An office coordinator at U.S.F. Logistics signed off her emails with "Have a Blessed Day." A contact at Microsoft, the company's largest customer, objected, and she was reprimanded after she kept using the phrase with them. In 2001 the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the denial of her request for an injunction: she could keep the phrase with coworkers and was asked to drop it with customers and vendors, and the court agreed that this was likely a reasonable accommodation of her religious practice.
- 2025, US federal agencies. Employees at several agencies were told to remove pronouns from their email signatures by the end of the workday, following an executive order, The Hill reported on January 31, 2025. Labor Department staff were told their signatures should carry only their full legal name.
- 2025-2026, TD Insurance. A company that permits optional pronouns and bans other personal statements, and a manager who asked for room for a religious identity next to them.
The signature is where a person's identity and the company's brand share five lines of space, so any rule about it will be tested by someone who feels their part got left out.
Six questions an email signature policy should answer
Each answer fits in a sentence or two.
- Which parts belong to the company. Logo, layout, colors, font, company name, website, and any legal footer. These are the same on everyone's signature, and people edit none of them.
- Which parts belong to the person. Usually name, job title, phone number, email and one or two links, plus a photo if the company uses them.
- Which personal identifiers are allowed. Pronouns, credentials (CPA, PhD), languages spoken, a name pronunciation. List them by name, and say whether each is optional.
- What is out, for everyone. Quotes, taglines, slogans, icons, images and other personal statements, whatever their subject. The rule is about the category, applied the same way to every message.
- How exceptions are handled. Who someone asks when they want to add something the policy does not list, including a religious accommodation, and how quickly they get an answer.
- How it is enforced. Where the signature is set, who checks it, and a proportionate path for someone who does not follow it: a reminder, a conversation, and only then anything formal.
For the legal lines a footer may need, such as a registered address or a confidentiality notice, see email signature compliance and the 20 email footer examples.
Pronouns: make them optional, and say why they are allowed
Companies land in one of three places: pronouns are optional and welcome, pronouns are left out for everyone, or the policy says nothing and each person decides. The third invites disputes, because the silence gets read as permission by some people and as a rule by others.
Whatever you choose, two points keep it defensible:
- Make it optional if you allow it. A requirement to state pronouns asks people to disclose something some of them would keep private. TD's wording, "limited, optional identifiers," is a clear model.
- Describe the category, and apply it evenly. If pronouns are allowed because they tell the reader how to address you, say so, and treat other lines by the same test. The TD claim raises this point: the plaintiff argues that one kind of identity had a place in the signature and hers was left out. A policy that states its reason makes that conversation shorter.
Religious lines: accommodation in the US, proportion in Canada
Where you are changes the legal backdrop. This section is general information for orientation; for a real case, talk to an employment lawyer where the employee works.
In the US, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act requires employers with 15 or more employees, and many state laws require smaller ones, to reasonably accommodate an employee's religious practice unless it would cause undue hardship. Since Groff v. DeJoy (2023), undue hardship means "substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business." The Anderson case above is one accommodation a court accepted for a sign-off. Most US employment is at will, so a dispute usually turns on discrimination and accommodation.
In Canada, religion is a protected ground under the Canadian Human Rights Act for federally regulated employers such as banks, and provincial codes protect religion or creed for everyone else. An employer that dismisses someone without cause generally owes reasonable notice or pay in lieu, and dismissal for cause is weighed against the misconduct in context, as the Supreme Court of Canada set out in McKinley v. BC Tel. Toronto employment lawyer Paulette Haynes, who is not involved in the TD case, told the Post that dismissal for cause is "an uphill battle" for an employer: "The misconduct has to be so egregious that it basically breaches the employment contract in a fundamental way." The TD claim covers both: creed, and pay for a 12-month notice period.
In both countries, the safer ground for an employer is a neutral rule applied the same way to everyone, a real conversation when someone asks for an exception, and a response that fits the size of the problem.
A sample email signature policy
Adapt this to your company, and have someone qualified read it before it goes in a handbook.
Email signature policy 1. Company parts. Every signature uses the company layout, logo, colors, font, company name, website and footer. These are set centrally and are the same for everyone. 2. Your parts. You set your name, job title, one phone number, your email and up to two work links. You may add a photo. 3. Optional identifiers. You may add, if you want to: - pronouns - professional credentials - languages you work in - a phonetic spelling of your name None of these is required. 4. Not included. Signatures carry no quotes, taglines, slogans, icons, images or other personal statements, whatever the subject. 5. Exceptions. If you would like something the policy does not list, including for religious reasons, ask [role]. You will get an answer within [n] working days, with the reason. 6. Changes. If your signature does not match this policy, [role] will let you know and help you fix it. Last reviewed: [date]. Owner: [role].
Put the policy where people edit their signature
TD had a written standard, and it was specific, and the dispute still ran through several meetings before it reached a courtroom.
A policy has two jobs: it sets the rule, and it makes the rule visible at the moment someone edits their signature, long before HR gets a complaint. A PDF in an onboarding folder does the first job, and the signature tool does the second, with the company parts already set and the personal parts a short list of fields. In Signatoro's company signature, the owner sets the logo, layout, color, font, company name and website, plus a shared legal footnote on the larger plans, and every person's signature carries them. Each person fills in their own name, title, phone, email and links, plus a photo on the layouts that show one. When the owner changes the brand, everyone gets their updated signature by email, ready to paste.
The personal fields are still free text, so the written policy still does its job: the tool makes the expected shape the default, and the policy explains the reason. For what to put in the personal part, see how to make an email signature.
Email signature policy questions
Can my employer control what is in my work email signature?
Generally, yes. A work email signature is part of company communications, and employers commonly set its layout and contents. Limits come from anti-discrimination law: in the US, an employer may need to accommodate a religious practice unless it would cause undue hardship, and in Canada, human rights laws protect religion and creed. For a specific situation, ask an employment lawyer where you work.
Can I put a Bible verse or religious quote in my work email signature?
It depends on your employer's policy and where you work. Many company policies exclude all quotes and personal statements, whatever the subject. If your faith matters to you here, ask for an exception in writing and explain why; at a US employer covered by Title VII, that request can start the accommodation process.
Should pronouns be required in an email signature?
Optional is the safer choice. A requirement asks people to disclose something some of them may prefer to keep private, while an optional field lets anyone who wants to add them do so.
What should a company email signature policy include?
Which parts the company sets, which parts each person sets, which optional identifiers are allowed, what is excluded for everyone, how to ask for an exception, and how the policy is enforced.
What happened in the TD email signature case?
A TD Insurance associate vice-president was dismissed in January 2026 after adding "I am HIS ✝️" to her email signature. TD says it had just cause because she repeatedly declined to bring her signature into line with its standards; she alleges discrimination based on creed and age and is suing for more than $400,000. The claims have not been tested in court.
Sources
Checked on 2026-09-29:
- National Post: TD executive sues after being fired for adding Christian symbol to her email signature, September 29, 2026
- US Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit: Anderson v. U.S.F. Logistics (IMC), Inc., 274 F.3d 470 (2001)
- The Hill: Federal workers told to remove pronouns from email signatures, January 31, 2025
- Supreme Court of the United States: Groff v. DeJoy, 2023
- Supreme Court of Canada: McKinley v. BC Tel, 2001 SCC 38
- Government of Canada: Canadian Human Rights Act