Kansas will pay $50,000 to settle a suit over a transgender Highway Patrol employee's firing

Source: Associated Press

Kansas will pay $50,000 to settle a suit over a transgender Highway Patrol employee’s firing

By JOHN HANNA
Updated 7:11 PM EDT, August 15, 2024

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will pay $50,000 to settle a federal anti-discrimination lawsuit filed by a former state Highway Patrol employee who claimed to have been fired for coming out as transgender.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and eight leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature unanimously approved the settlement during a brief online video conference Thursday. The state attorney general’s office pursued the settlement in defending the Highway Patrol, but any agreement it reaches also must be approved by the governor and top lawmakers.

Kelly and the legislators didn’t publicly discuss the settlement, and the amount wasn’t disclosed until the state released their formal resolution approving the settlement nearly four hours after their meeting. Kelly’s office and the offices of Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins did not respond to emails seeking comment after the meeting.

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The ex-employee was a buildings and grounds manager in the patrol’s Topeka headquarters and sued after being fired in June 2022. The patrol said the ex-employee had been accused of sexual harassment and wasn’t cooperative enough with an internal investigation. The lawsuit alleged that reason was a pretext for terminating a transgender worker.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/kansas-highway-patrol-transgender-employee-discrimination-lawsuit-6f90dde80a96d4423ed983629fe6712d