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State's ruling backs worker in transgender firing dispute

Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 15, 2006 at midnight

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A Greenwood Village business violated state anti-discrimination law when it fired an employee who was preparing to undergo sex-change surgery to become a woman, the Colorado Division of Civil Rights has found.

Intermountain Testing Co. officials and former worker Danielle Cornwell are scheduled to meet in October to discuss a resolution, Cornwell's attorney, John Hummel, said Thursday.

Cornwell said she would not seek her job back. Hummel said such cases typically are resolved with a cash settlement.

Neither an attorney for Intermountain Testing Co. nor a company representative could be reached for comment Thursday.

Advocates said the ruling is the first of its kind in Colorado.

Cornwell, who began work at Intermountain Testing Co. in 1990, lived most of her life as David Cornwell. In June 2005, she told the company she would be transitioning to the female gender. A month later she was fired.

According to the ruling, Intermountain Testing Co. officials said Cornwell was let go because of low performance ratings.

But Wendell L. Pryor, director of the state civil rights division, said in his Aug. 21 ruling that a less qualified male employee in a similar position was not dismissed.

"Given this, it appears that (the company's) decision to discharge (Cornwell) was based on her gender - female," Pryor wrote.

Cornwell, a 54-year-old from Arvada who worked as a radiographer and testing technician, said she was grateful for the ruling.

"My work and my abilities did not change along with my gender," Cornwell said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report