A transgendered pharmacist who last year won the right to wear women’s clothing at work is suing her employer for discrimination and retaliation.
In a lawsuit filed last week, Kim Dower alleged that King Soopers’ management limited her options for transferring to a new store in August after her position was eliminated at the Denver store where she had worked for 10 years.
Dower is undergoing male- to-female reassignment and must dress as a woman for a year before surgery.
King Soopers spokesman Trail Daugherty said the company had received the lawsuit and turned it over to its attorneys. He declined to comment further.
When Dower’s position was eliminated, the company had multiple openings at other stores but limited Dower to a single store in Aurora that had a unisex bathroom, according to the lawsuit.
Dower was later notified that she would have to take unpaid time off while the Aurora store’s unisex bathroom was being remodeled. Dower opted to work without access to a bathroom instead, according to her attorney, John Hummel.
“We believe some of the actions are so unreasonable, they’ve been retaliatory for standing up for her rights,” Hummel said.
King Soopers’ management originally resisted Dower’s requests to dress as a woman at work because of questions over where she would go to the bathroom. The company relented and designated two private bathrooms near the pharmacy as unisex in May 2005.
In cases of gender transition, The Denver Post respects the preferred gender in pronoun use.
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-820-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
