Ex-Time Warner Employee Sues Over Porn at Work
Time Warner Cable has been hit with another discrimination lawsuit, this time by a former employee in New York. Keith Reid worked in the company's New York City maintenance department for about 9 years before he was fired earlier this year.
He says he was terminated because of his religion. He was allegedly dismissed for complaining to human resources about a number of co-workers who were watching porn at work.
How pornography turned into religious discrimination is a bit muffled. Keith Reid stumbled upon a supervisor watching porn in February 2011, explains the New York Post. He complained, stating that he finds pornography offensive because he is a Christian.
Human resources appears to have taken no action, as Reid claims he saw co-workers watching pornography approximately 10 times. He made two additional complaints, the last of which the New York Daily News reports ended in suspension. He was then fired.
Though there's a chance Time Warner was required to accommodate Reid's religious objection to workplace pornography, religious discrimination still seems a bit tenuous. Sex discrimination, however, seems right on the money.
Court documents are not available online, but the suit appears to have been filed by NYC discrimination lawyer Louis Ginsberg. For Keith Reid's sake, one can only hope that he also asserted that Time Warner illegally allowed its employees to create a sexually hostile work environment.
Indeed, if severe or pervasive enough, it is against the law to allow porn in the workplace when objections have been made by an offended employee.
Related Resources:
- Are Time Warner Cable Workers Just Watching Porn All Day? (Gothamist)
- Sexual Harassment at Work (FindLaw)
- NYC Restaurant Fed Celebs Penis-Shaped Dumplings: Lawsuit (FindLaw's Legally Weird)