J. MARIO CARRENO, Plaintiff, v. LOCAL UNION NO. 226, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS and SHELLEY ELECTRIC COMPANY, INC., Defendants, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13817

Summary

The employee alleged that verbal and physical harassment was directed at him by his fellow employees because of his homosexual lifestyle, and claimed that defendants discriminated against him by allowing a hostile and offensive working environment to exist so that he was forced to resign. The court granted defendants' motions. The court noted that the third required element of the McDonnell Douglas model for Title VII hostile work environment discrimination cases mandated that the harassment be based on the employee's race or sex. The court found that the undisputed facts indicated that the employee was harassed because he was a homosexual male and not because he was a male. The court also noted that every alleged derogatory comment related to the employee's homosexuality. Based on those facts, the court held that the employee could not establish the third required element because the harassment he suffered was based on his sexual preference rather than his gender. Thus, the court held...