TSA staff at LAX undergoing transgender training

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A transgender Transportation Security Administration agent who was fired from her job at Los Angeles International Airport for using the women’s restroom has received back pay and a five-figure award for pain and suffering as part of a civil rights settlement.

Ashley Yang says she was ordered to dress like a man, pat down men and use the men’s restroom after she informed a human resources manager that a background check would reveal she was born male and hadn’t undergone sex reassignment surgery.

In addition to compensation, her settlement requires TSA managers based at LAX to undergo transgender sensitivity training.

TSA spokesman Nico Melendez says he can’t discuss details of Yang’s case because of privacy rules, but he says the manager training started this summer.