The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] on Tuesday against the Missouri Commission on Human Rights (MCHR) [official website] for failing to protect a transgender man from sex-based employment discrimination.

Chris Lawson filed a complaint [ACLU report] against his former employer, Dollar General [corporate website], in 2015 with the MCHR for sex-based discrimination and hostile treatment from his employers because “he did not act or appear in accordance with expectations of his gender.” Lawson, a transgender man, was told by Dollar General’s human resources department that he would be reprimanded for using the male restroom and that corporate had instructed the department to not use either male or female pronouns when referring to him. The complaint notes that no other employees were told that their gender-specific pronoun of choice would not be used nor were they banned from using the restroom associated with their sex.

Lawson’s complaint was dismissed in August by the executive director of MCHR on the grounds that the commission “lacks jurisdiction over this matter because sexual orientation is not protected by the Missouri Human Rights Act.”

The ACLU contends that the matter falls within the jurisdiction of the commission, which was partially created by statute to “eliminate and prevent discrimination in employment because of sex.” Additionally, the ACLU cites its success in a similar case, Fenner v. Missouri Commission on Human Rights [order, PDF], where the court found that the MCHR was incorrect in dismissing a sex-based discrimination charge brought by a transgender woman against her employer.