King Spa in Palisades Park

By Cecilia Levine From Daily Voice

A New Jersey spa must overhaul its policies to allow transgender individuals to use locker rooms that match their gender identities under the terms of a lawsuit settlement, after a transgender woman said she was denied access to the women’s facilities and asked if she had “boy parts,” court filings show.

The discrimination lawsuit was filed by Alexandra Goebert in Bergen County Superior Court after she visited King Spa & Sauna on Commercial Avenue in Palisades Park on Aug.14, 2022. Goebert said she entered the spa as a paying customer and presented a valid driver’s license identifying her gender as female.

According to the lawsuit, an employee first gave her a man’s wristband. Goebert told the employee she was a woman and pointed to her ID, but staff later questioned her again. A manager asked her, “Have you changed your front?” and then clarified by asking if she had “boy parts,” the complaint says. Goebert responded that she did not, adding that she is a woman.

Court papers say Goebert was then told she was not allowed on the “female side” of the spa. When she said she would not feel comfortable on the men’s side, a manager told her she could only use areas like saunas and hot tubs if she wore a bathing suit, even though nudity is required. After speaking with upper management, the spa offered her “uniform shorts,” which she refused unless every woman was required to wear the same thing.

Goebert told the general manager that New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination prohibits this type of treatment and read the statute aloud from her phone, the complaint says. According to the lawsuit, the general manager still blocked her from using the women’s facilities and said she needed to “think about the other guests.”

Goebert said she went back and forth with staff for about two hours as other women used the spa. She was never allowed to use the services she paid for, the filing says.

Last summer, the case ended in a consent order requiring King Spa to implement new employee and client policies that ban discrimination based on gender identity or expression, according to the document signed by both parties. The spa must implement posted policies throughout the facility, train staff, and hire an independent consultant to certify that every employee received the training.

The court order also requires King Spa to provide every employee with a copy of the non-discrimination policy, display it at the front desk, and post it at the entrance of every sex-segregated area. Staff must treat clients “in accordance with the individual’s gender identity or expression,” according to the consent order.

Both sides agreed to the terms. 

As of press time, the spa's website said: "You may use the locker room that matches the gender identity on your government- or state-issued photo ID."

King Spa markets itself as the largest Korean spa and sauna on the East Coast.