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Letter to the editor

Ex-worker sues Progress for alleged discrimination

He says he was harassed by a co-worker who spread falsehoods about his sexual orientation.

By SCOTT BARANCIK, Times Staff Writer
Published October 27, 2007

Talk about your hostile work environments.

Jared Moren says a male co-worker at Progress Energy Florida posted placards falsely claiming that he was gay, said the apprentice lineman was a homosexual who "plays with Barbies" and threatened murder when Moren stuck up for himself. Though Progress eventually fired the alleged harasser, a friend of the laid-off worker retaliated, and Moren quit.

"It's very similar to what it's like in a high-school locker room," said Moren, 24, in an interview. "But the stress level is higher in this type of dangerous work. One mistake could kill the person on the other end of the line instantly."

Last month, the Odessa resident filed suit, claiming he was a victim of unchecked discrimination.

Progress Energy disagreed.

"As soon as we became aware of Mr. Moren's complaint, we investigated, and we took quick and immediate action," spokeswoman Cherie Jacobs said.

Moren, who became an emergency medical technician after leaving Progress and recently passed exams to become a firefighter, may have a bigger problem on his hands: the law. How can he make a claim under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act - which prohibits discrimination based on a worker's race, age and certain other characteristics - when the act doesn't cover discrimination based on sexual orientation? The answer, Moren's lawyer Ronald Fraley said, is in a little-used loophole established in 1998.

That year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Oncale vs. Sundowner Offshore Services that sexual harassment cases could involve same-sex parties. Among the court's examples were cases where the harasser is homosexual and driven by desire, is generally hostile toward people of his or her own gender, or treats male and female workers very differently. In such cases, the victim's sexual orientation would be considered irrelevant.

"The logic is that but for Moren's sex, he would not have been subjected to the treatment," Fraley said. That Moren actually is not gay is irrelevant, he added.

Few such cases are filed, however, and even fewer - usually those involving a homosexual harasser - succeed. But the fact that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found "reasonable cause" in Moren's complaint was reassuring, Fraley said.

The loophole does not put gay and lesbian workers on an equal footing with protected classes. According to EEOC lawyer Ernest Haffner, it remains perfectly legal under Title VII to fire, refuse to hire or harass a worker based on his sexual orientation. The same is true under Florida's civil rights law.

Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report. Scott Barancik can be reached at barancik@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8751.

[Last modified October 26, 2007, 22:49:52]