Suit claims man was harassed at work for being gay

EEOC action is first in North Dakota claiming harassment for sexual orientation

An oilfield services company is facing the first-ever U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit in North Dakota that alleges an employee was harassed because of sexual orientation.

The EEOC announced Thursday that it filed suit against Rocky Mountain Casing Company, which is based in Wyoming and has a branch in Williston, and claimed that the company allowed harassment of Michael Allyn, a gay man who worked there.

“Allyn was harassed by co-workers and his supervisor because he did not conform to their stereotypes about masculinity, and because of his sexual orientation,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for North Dakota.

Multiple allegations about harassment by other employees and a supervisor are made in the suit, including claims that another employee attempted to sexually assault Allyn, that Allyn was called homophobic slurs by other employees, that he was given pornographic magazines, that his supervisor made offensive jokes about gay people and that his supervisor gave him a hat with the Spanish slang word for homosexual on it.

Read more: http://www.willistonherald.com/news/suit-claims-man-was-harassed-at-work-for-being-gay/article_318af728-c8a0-11e6-a366-13bf9ce1ffae.html