An Illinois appeals court has upheld a ruling that arts-and-crafts retailer Hobby Lobby should pay at least $220,000 to a transgender employee for forbidding her to use the store's women's restroom, violating the state's Human Rights Act.

The employee's attorney said the sum, affirmed Friday, would be the state's highest-ever emotional distress damage award.

A panel of three conservative judges from the Second District Appellate Court of Illinois unanimously upheld the findings of the state's Human Rights Commission, saying Hobby Lobby discriminated against decades-long employee Meggan Sommerville based on her gender identity.

"Hobby Lobby's conduct thus falls squarely within the definition of unlawful discrimination under the Act," the opinion read.

Somerville said the court's decisive language was an overwhelming relief after fighting the legal battle for more than a decade.

"It's like waking up from a very long dream and not knowing what to do," she said. "I still can't put into words the relief I have."

She said that knowing her case could affect other transgender people in Illinois and beyond is what kept her going. The day after the ruling, she went to her job as a frame shop manager at the same Hobby Lobby location where she's worked throughout the case. It was surreal, she said, going back to work when so much had just changed.

Evangelical-owned Hobby Lobby has grabbed headlines for years, most notably during the 2014 Supreme Court case in which the court found employment-based group health care plans do not have to cover contraceptives. The craft company is also the primary benefactor of the Museum of the Bible, and has forfeited thousands of artifacts in recent years after federal authorities found they were illegally imported.

Attorney Jacob J. Meister, who represented Sommerville, said the ruling in her case is especially consequential because it clearly says gender identity is a valid basis for determining sex. The ruling refers to Sommerville as "unquestionably female" based on Illinois law.

"It's just a matter of human dignity," Meister said. "We're looking around the country, and we're seeing a lot of anti-transgender legislation and activities going on. This is a beacon of hope for the entire transgender community and helps give a road map that other courts can follow."

The firm representing Hobby Lobby, Mauck & Baker, said it does not comment on cases. It is not clear whether they will attempt to appeal the decision.

Sommerville started working at Hobby Lobby in 1998. In 2007, she began physically transitioning to female and told some colleagues about her transition in 2009, court documents say.

She legally changed her name to Meggan in 2010 and updated her driver's license and Social Security card to identify her as female. Then, court documents say, she officially notified Hobby Lobby of her transition, and the store changed its records to acknowledge she is female.

But when Sommerville told the company she wanted to start using the store's women's bathroom, Hobby Lobby refused.

In its opinion, the court also noted an apparent contradiction in the craft company's legal reasoning: "Hobby Lobby argues that it was simply acting as a reasonable employer and enforcing its rules about separate bathrooms by keeping a male out of the women's bathroom, but Hobby Lobby itself recognizes that Sommerville is female."

Somerville told the court the treatment that followed led to disturbing, recurring nightmares, severe anxiety and physical issues related to avoiding using the restroom at work.

After Sommerville decided to sometimes use the restroom - despite the store's objections - court documents say Hobby Lobby told its employees to report Sommerville if they saw her in the women's room.

In 2011, she was given a written warning for entering the women's restroom. She testified that she was "emotionally devastated" by the warning.

The store then tried to change its criteria for who could use each restroom, reportedly telling Sommerville she could use the facility if she underwent genital surgery or showed a birth certificate that identified her as female.

Sommerville testified that she had to structure her life around when she could use the restroom. She didn't want to be seen using the men's room, and going to a different business to use their women's restroom took additional time. She said she would just try not to use the restroom at first, but later began restricting her fluid intake and avoiding meals.

She said the ban led to recurring nightmares about "bathrooms, being approached by men, and being physically assaulted and laughed at by them."

The company also installed a unisex bathroom at the store where Sommerville worked in 2013, which the court found irrelevant to the case. Sommerville told the court she "felt like [in] some ways they were recognizing me as female, but yet they were segregating me. I felt as though there were the guys, the gals, and then me."

Hobby Lobby unsuccessfully argued that sex is defined by "reproductive organs and structures," though Illinois law more broadly defines sex as "the status of being male or female."

The company also tried to argue that Sommerville had "engaged in misconduct toward women," which the court said the retailer did not provide evidence of. It also noted that misconduct - alleged or otherwise - does not allow for discrimination.

"Hobby Lobby's argument seeks to give weight to the fears or discomfort of others," the opinion read. "The presence of a transgender person in a bathroom poses no greater inherent risk to privacy or safety than that posed by anyone else who uses the bathroom."

In 2015, the state's Human Rights Commission determined Hobby Lobby should pay Somerville $220,000 in damages. The case will now be remanded to the commission to determine additional damages and fees that may have been incurred over the past six years.

Similar cases cited by the court indicate that Somerville could be owed an additional $50,000 per year since 2015, which would more than double the compensation.

Sommerville said she was amazed to see support from legislators and the Illinois governor, and encouraged other transgender people to find people who "are willing to go to bat for you."

"This will not be the end," Sommerville said. "Don't back down."