There are reasonable grounds to suspect a transgender woman was fired because of her sex change, according to a first-of-its-kind state ruling issued today by the Colorado Civil Rights Division.
The agency, charged with ensuring fair employment practices, said Intermountain Testing Co. of Greenwood Village may have discriminated illegally against Danielle Cornwell on the basis of her sex. The ruling lays groundwork that allows Cornwell to pursue legal action against the company.
Cornwell, who lives in Arvada, has spent most of her life as a man named David. In June 2005, she informed her employer that she planned to change her gender, a process that involved wearing women’s clothes and changing her name.
A month later, Cornwell lost her job. She had worked more than 15 years for the company, which provides testing services to the construction and manufacturing industries.
The state agency didn’t buy the company’s claim that a slowdown in business prompted Cornwell’s dismissal. The agency noted that Cornwell was one of the company’s most senior and experienced technicians and that she had maintained satisfactory performance evaluations. Compounding the agency’s skepticism: male employees less senior and less qualified than Cornwell kept their jobs.
Cornwell said she is grateful for the agency’s ruling.
“I have worked hard all my life,” she said in a statement. “My work and my abilities did not change along with my gender.”
A lawyer representing the company cited client confidentiality and declined to comment.
Cornwell and ITC representatives are scheduled to appear at a mandatory meeting to attempt to reconcile their differences in early October.
