A victory for all trans people in the workplace, 20-year Hobby Lobby employee and trans woman Meggan Sommerville won a legal battle as the Second District Appellate Court of Illinois found the company violated the Illinois Human Rights Act and refused to let Sommerville use the women’s facilities at the store.
The decision affirmed an order by Administrative Law Judge William J. Borah, finding Hobby Lobby was liable for damages with a recommended reward of $220,000 to Sommerville.
“In its first opportunity to consider this issue, the court methodically destroyed every justification Hobby Lobby tried to argue for why it had discriminated against Ms. Sommerville for years. The court could not have been clearer that the Illinois Human Rights Act and numerous other Illinois and federal laws prohibit employers from discriminating against their employees based on gender identity, including by excluding them from the restroom. The Illinois Commission on Human Rights got it right years ago when it ruled for Ms. Sommerville, and it’s past time for Hobby Lobby to do the right thing, and treat their transgender employees with dignity and respect.” says Kara Ingelhart, a staff attorney at Lambda Legal.
Ingelhart continues, calling the decision a win for all transgender people in the state, “Thank you to Ms. Sommerville for staying in this fight for so long. By standing up for herself, she stood up for all transgender people in Illinois and in the end was completely vindicated. Congratulations to Ms. Sommerville and her legal team.”
The decision set a precedent for future cases in Illinois, allowing for less wiggle room surrounding companies’ discrimination in regard to gender identity, though Sommerville notes the state already forbids workplace discrimination on the basis of gender identity, alongside 20 other states. Sommerville told Forbes that Illinois law is “so clear that even conservative judges couldn’t go any other way with it.”
The case dates back to July 2010, after Sommerville informed her employer of her intent to start using the women’s bathroom at her store a year after beginning her transition. Court documents show Hobby Lobby changed its personnel records to reflect Sommerville’s new name and gender but refused to let her use the correct bathroom. Her supervisors ordered coworkers to report her if she used the correct bathroom and issued a written warning at least once.
Sommerville reported the treatment resulted in recurring nightmares about being assaulted and verbally abused, developing “physical symptoms including headaches, fatigue, muscle cramps, [and] gastric problems,” according to her testimony. She also reported dehydration over limiting her water intake to avoid using the bathroom during her shift. Sommerville also reportedly developed fibromyalgia, a chronic illness with symptoms including a frequent need to use the bathroom, ultimately exasperating the situation surrounding the company’s discriminatory restrictions.
“I ended up having to structure my life around how often I would be able to use the restroom,” Sommerville testified.
The three-judge panel unanimously rejected Hobby Lobby’s justification for their treatment of Sommerville, asserting that “sex” is immutable and defined at birth, though the plaintiff responded that Sommerville was “unquestionably female” by any legal definition. The company said restricting Sommerville’s use of the proper bathroom was to protect the safety of cisgender women, though the judges said where she uses the restroom was little consequence if she was truly a danger to customers.
The victory comes years after Sommerville first began fighting Hobby Lobby, as she initially filed suit in 2013, and though a state administrative judge ruled in her favor in 2015, the company appealed and received an injunction, which allowed them to continue blocking her restroom access until now.
“This is one [ruling] where I can literally look at the order and say, ‘I won,’” she tells Forbes.
