EBAR.com – by Matthew S. Bajko
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing locally-owned Dudley Perkins Company, one of the country’s oldest Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealerships, for allegedly violating federal law when it fired a transgender mechanic after she filed a sex discrimination complaint against it.
According to the federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday, September 30, the dealership hired Bowen Dean, 44, as an entry-level lot technician on June 23, 2005. Yet, despite her training as a Harley-Davidson mechanic, Dean was never allowed to perform the duties she was originally hired to do, and instead was assigned to customer service and bookkeeping work, according to the results of the commission’s investigation.