History of the Business Suit, or Dress for Egress

By Melissa August, Val Castronovo, Rachel Dry, Daren Fonda, Michael Jackson, Benjamin Nugent, Michele Orecklin, Julie Rawe, John Rosenblatt, Alexandra Wolfe

A judge in New Brunswick, N.J., last week ordered Wal-Mart to pay more than $2 million to a transsexual ex-employee who claimed he was fired after his boss learned he was a man. Ricky Bourdouvales, undergoing a sex change, said he was able to do his job fine dressed as a woman until his boss noticed he had checked "male" on a form. Taking an employer to court over one's appearance has quite a history:

1995: US West Communications sent home, then fired Christine Wilson after she refused to remove or cover a STOP ABORTION button. Wilson said she had made a religious vow to keep the button on. The court decided in favor of US West.

1994: Raymond T. Rourke, a Native American, sued the New York State corrections department after he was fired from his job as a guard for refusing to cut his hair. Keeping it long, he argued, is a tenet of his Mohawk Longhouse religion. He was reinstated.

1991: Linda Marie Chandler filed suit after she was fired for refusing to wear bicycle tights at Champions sports bar in Tysons Corner, Va. The bar revised its dress code so waitresses can wear baggy shorts.

1987: Domino's Pizza didn't hire Prabhjot S. Kohli because the Sikh refused to cut his beard for religious reasons. This January, Domino's put an end to its no-beards policy and settled with Kohli for $5,000.