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

Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will pay $50,000 to settle a federal 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 leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature unanimously approved the settlement Thursday. The officials didn’t discuss the settlement, and the ex-employee’s attorney also declined comment. The former 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.