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Corporate Social Responsibility
News
9.15.2003 ET
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CSR News from:
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Employment Lawyers' Group Plc
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News Category:
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Gay Postal Worker Sues After Years of Harassment, Death Threats
(CSRwire) SAN FRANCISCO, CA - The Employment Lawyers' Group, PLC announced the
filing on September 4, 2003, of a lawsuit against the United States Postal
Service on behalf of Modesto postal worker Chad Grumbling, who is alleged
to have suffered years of verbal and physical harassment by co-workers,
including death threats because he is gay. The suit was filed in the
United States District Court in Fresno, case number CIV-F 03-6196.
Chad Grumbling alleges in his suit that his fellow postal workers harassed
him by:
Chasing him in a car around Modesto while yelling that he would be
killed
Leaving a telephone message saying he would be gunned down
Dumping Fruit Loops and Juicy Fruit gum in his work area
Daily yelling "Fag Alert!" or "Queer in the John!" when he went to
the restroom
Urinating into his locker at the post office
Scrawling "Faggot!" on is locker
Calling him "fudgepacker" "queer" "sissy" "fairy" "queerboy" and
"faggot" constantly at work
Repeatedly leaving gay pornography in his work area with his name
written on the photographs
Repeatedly writing on the restroom wall: "Free blow jobs 1-800-call
Chad"
Miming sex acts to taunt him at work
Grumbling alleges that he complained to management about all of the
incidents over a period of more than five years, but the harassment
continued. In 1999, after he was chased around Modesto and threatened
with death, Grumbling bought a handgun and told his boss that he bought
the gun since management wasn't protecting him against the illegal
harassment and threats by fellow postal workers. Management investigated
Grumbling's purchase of the gun and found that he had properly registered
it and took safety classes so they didn't discipline him.
Grumbling filed suit after an administrative law judge at the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that the federal equal employment
opportunity laws did not protect him because they did not prohibit sexual
orientation discrimination or harassment. Grumbling filed suit to test
what protections gay workers have under federal law, to recover damages
for the years of harassment that he suffered, and to raise awareness about
the severity of this problem that continues to exist in the workplace.
SEE MODESTO BEE STORY ON THE WEB AT: www.modbee.com/local/story/7412155p-8331164c.html.
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