Transsexual sues over discrimination
CONCORD – A Milford woman charges that PC Connection refused to hire her for a sales job after learning that she’d applied to the company as a man seven years earlier.
Brianna Cook filed the suit against PC Connection, of Merrimack, on Dec. 1 in U.S. District Court in Concord. The company has yet to respond.
Cook is a post-operative transsexual with experience in marketing communications and sales, both as a man and as a woman, her suit states.
She claims PC Connection officials implied that her hiring was assured, and that a company recruiter later told her she was eventually rejected because she hadn’t disclosed that she had previously applied to the company as a man.
Cook and her lawyer, Mary Notaris, of Salem, accuse the company of gender discrimination in violation of state and federal law and seek punitive damages, as well as compensation for lost wages and mental anguish.
“In this sales position, Ms. Cook would have had extensive telephone contact with prospective customers, most of whom would never have had the opportunity to meet Ms. Cook, or to discern the fact that she is a postoperative transsexual,” her suit states. “Regardless, the surgery was extremely successful, and Ms. Cook has worked hard to make sure that her outward appearance is more than ‘passable’ as a female.”
According to the suit, this is what happened:
Cook first applied for a sales job at PC Connection on Aug. 11, 1999, when she was Brian Cook. At the time, Cook had 14 years of managerial experience in marketing communications at Digital Equipment Corp. and 10 years of experience in sales in his own company.
Cook was looking for a marketing communications job and made clear that he was interested in sales as a steppingstone for promotion and transfer. Cook’s interview was “very positive,” but the company made clear that it was looking for salespeople and Cook wasn’t hired.
Almost seven years later, the suit goes on to say, Cook applied to PC Connection again while attending a job fair at the company on May 24, 2006.
By that point, Cook had undergone surgery and become a woman, Brianna. Her career interests also had changed, and she was “this time truly interested in sales.”
Cook had a series of interviews at the job fair, all of which seemed to go extremely well, her suit states.
Cook assured the interviewer she was comfortable with the salary range, and the manager assured Cook she would be hearing from them, her suit states. Afterward, Kate Murphy, a sales recruiter for the company, told Cook that she “just blew everyone away.”
Murphy later sent Cook three e-mails from late May, copies of which are included along with Cook’s lawsuit, involving a background check.
On June 1, Murphy sent a third e-mail, notifying Cook that she wouldn’t be hired: “Unfortunately we have selected other applicants whose skill sets better meets our current needs,” the e-mail states.
When Cook called to speak with Murphy the following day, Murphy told her she wasn’t hired because she hadn’t disclosed that she had previously applied for a position as Brian Cook, her suit states.
“It is clear that Ms. Cook was not hired and suffered disparate and discriminatory treatment as a result of her sex and transsexual status,” the suit states. “She was not hired because she chose not to tell them she had been born a man, or that she had gender reassignment surgery.”
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