Danielle M. Cornwell v. Intermountain Testing Company
Danielle M. Cornwell v. Intermountain Testing Company (ITC) [transgender employment discrimination] Settlement
Breaking News, November 21, 2006. Cornwell and Intermountain Testing Company (ITC) have agreed to settle Cornwell's claim of employment discrimination. The no-fault settlement provides that Cornwell will return to her job as a radiographer and construction tester for ITC in December 2006. Cornwell and ITC agreed to the settlement after the Colorado Civil Rights Division issued a "Probable Cause Determination" in Cornwell's favor in September 2006, finding that ITC discriminated against Cornwell under Colorado law on the basis of sex in firing her. The parties participated in a conciliation meeting in October sponsored by the Colorado Civil Rights Division, which led to the settlement.
Read CLIP's press release announcing the settlement.
Case Background:
For most of her life, Danielle Cornwell, a resident of Arvada, Colorado, was known as a man named "David." Beginning in 2004, however, Cornwell came to terms with the fact that she is a transgender woman, and began the gender transition process. By June 2005, Cornwell's transition had progressed to the point where she was ready to tell her employer, Intermountain Testing Company (ITC).
ITC, based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, is a company that provides testing services to the construction and manufacturing industries. Cornwell had worked as a radiographer and testing technician for ITC for over 15 years, was one of the employees with the most seniority, and was considered the most knowledgeable and experienced X-ray technician in the ITC shop. At the time that Cornwell told ITC that she was a woman, ITC had an exclusively male work force, with the exception of a single female receptionist. Since Cornwell began working for the employer in 1990, no women had performed work as x-ray technicians or testers at ITC.
Cornwell informed ITC's owners and her coworkers that she would now be known as "Danielle" and would begin dressing and appearing in the female gender. The reaction at ITC to Cornwell's news was not positive, to say the least. She experienced a noticeable cooling of what had once been friendly relations at the company. One of the owners even told Cornwell that her job was not suited for females. Only a month later, on July 22, 2005, ITC terminated Cornwell's employment, allegedly for "lack of work."
Cornwell called the CLIP Legal Hotline for help. CLIP assisted Cornwell in filing a charge of sex discrimination against ITC with the Colorado Civil Rights Division. Cornwell's charge against ITC notes that ITC's reason for terminating Cornwell after 15 years, "lack of work," was really a pretext for unlawful sex discrimination.
CLIP Legal Director John Hummel and CLIP Cooperating Attorney Mari Newman of the Denver civil rights firm Killmer, Lane & Newman, LLP, represented Cornwell in her claim against ITC.
Case Documents:
Cornwell Amended Charge of Discrimination 4/5/06
Colorado Civil Rights Division Probable Cause Determination, Danielle Cornwell v. Intermountain Testing Company
CLIP Media Release re Cornwell Case, September 14, 2006
CLIP Media release re Cornwell Settlement, November 21, 2006