Judge says Kansas Highway Patrol's reason for firing LGBTQ employee is 'somewhat illogical'

A federal judge is skeptical of the Kansas Highway Patrol's stated reason for terminating a former employee who alleges they were fired because they are transgender.

William H. Dawes Jr. was a civilian employee at the KHP headquarters in Topeka. He claims he was fired because he is transgender. The highway patrol claims it was because he refused to participate in an interview for an internal sexual harassment investigation without an attorney present.

U.S. District Judge John Broomes on Friday denied KHP's motion for summary judgment, writing that there are "genuine issues of material fact" and a jury could agree with either side. A jury trial in the sex discrimination lawsuit is scheduled for July 23 in Kansas City, Kansas.

Email to KHP coworker triggered sexual harassment investigation

According to court documents, Dawes disclosed to his supervisor, the human resources director and a coworker that he is transgender. Dawes, who is referred to with "he" pronouns in the filings, also inquired with human resources about transitioning from a male identity to a female identity at work. The HR director informed senior leadership at KHP.

While the parties agreed that Dawes was otherwise a good employee, the court documents show he was the subject of a sexual harassment investigation stemming from a June 6, 2022, email to a female coworker.

Part of that email read: "It is beautiful for me to see a woman so comfortable expressing her femininity. I absolutely LOVE your heels, BTW…I'm jealous! (Please know that I'm honestly not flirting with you…although if I were 30 years younger, I might seriously consider that option, lol. I find you inspirational, and I wanted you to know.) You made my day. Thank you!"

Dawes had second thoughts after sending the email and walked to the coworker's office to discuss it in person, but didn't talk to her because she was busy talking to some else. The coworker reported the email and the visit to a supervisor, said she felt uncomfortable and interpreted it as unwelcome sexual advance.

There had also been a prior incident where Dawes told the coworker that he "appreciated a woman wearing heels and panty hose, and how nice it was to see a female really taking care of herself."

Col. Herman Jones, the then-superintendent of the KHP, ordered an internal investigation on June 7. That same day, an investigator hand-delivered two letters to Dawes informing him of the investigation and warning him of the potential for disciplinary action if he did not cooperate. He was also placed on paid administrative leave.

On June 9, the investigator mailed a letter to Dawes instructing him to attend a June 13 interview and advising that he could bring an attorney.

Dawes didn't bring an attorney when he showed up for the interview, but he decided he wanted one after the investigator gave him a written warning about the potential of being fired if he refused to answer questions.

The investigator said that refusing to sign the warning could result in discipline. Dawes said he wasn't comfortable signing it without an attorney present but said he would cooperate once he had an attorney, though the investigator warned there was no guarantee of another interview.

Court documents say that no other KHP employee has ever before refused to sign the warning.

Judge says former KHP leader's reason for firing 'somewhat illogical'

The investigator informed Jones about Dawes refusing the participate in the interview. The next day, Dawes called to request another interview. While Jones considered immediately firing Dawes, he decided to allow another interview because he wanted to give Dawes "that grace to come in and allow him to come in and cooperate."

He also said he had a duty to the coworker to complete the investigation.

The interview proceeded without incident on June 16, where Dawes fully cooperated and answered all the questions.

The professional standards unit ultimately concluded that the email violated KHP policies, but Dawes wasn't disciplined for the email.

Instead, Jones decided to fire Dawes, effective July 7. The KHP told Dawes "the reason for the dismissal is your refusal to answer questions during an interview" on June 13.

Broomes wrote that "Jones had every right to terminate (Dawes) based on his failure to sign the Warning and participate in the interview." But, Broomes added, his firing may have been pretextual.

He wrote that it is "somewhat illogical" for Jones to claim the firing was for refusing to participate in the June 13 interview when Jones allowed a June 16 interview. Since Dawes fully cooperated with that second interview, "Any practical basis for his termination based on his refusal to participate in the first interview dissipated."

"If giving (Dawes) a second chance to cooperate was Jones' true motive for the second interview, then firing (Dawes) for refusing that first interview seems inconsistent with that motive," Broomes wrote.

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Did Kansas Highway Patrol fire employee because they're transgender?