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So here's an interesting question: Can an employer like gay employees too much?
Gay, human resources professional, Jamie Ardigo, is suing his former employer, J. Christopher Capital, after he was allegedly fired for trying to change the company's "discriminatory practices."
Ardigo charges that the owner of the company, Christopher Burch, uniformly discriminated against straight men (and ugly women??), choosing to only hire gay men and "beautiful women."
More after the jump.
Burch's alleged reasoning for his hiring practices? Gay men are "productive" and "he trusts them." Ardigo explains, "I witnessed it in meetings with the executive management team, where he'd blatantly state the fact that he only likes to hire gay men and beautiful women."
For his part, Ardigo was offended, both as a gay man and as a human resources professional. ABC News explains that as an "HR professional 'keenly aware' of the need to maintain a non-discriminatory atmosphere in the workplace, he knew that both the attitude expressed and any hiring that bore it out was contrary to federal and New York City law."
Ardigo continues, "I was highly concerned for the organization and uncomfortable myself working there. I had never worked for an organization that made decisions based on that or that made comments like that."
He feels that he was ultimately fired for bringing attention to discriminatory practices and inappropriate behavior. He also felt pressure to reveal information about himself that he deemed private.
Regarding his supervisor, Ardigo says, "He stated that he needed to trust me, and in order to do that he needed to know more about me. Knowing the culture of the organization, hearing about their hiring only gay men, I felt there was an expectation that I had to reveal that information in order to be successful at work."
He found this pressure "highly inappropriate."
Burch and J. Christopher Capital deny any wrongdoing. They also claim that Ardigo's firing was based on "a performance-related issue."
What do you think, Instincters? Yes, we've been called worse things than "productive" and "trustworthy." That said, can we excuse work place discrimination against straight men and less-than-beautiful women?
Is it acceptable for our sexual orientation to be a reason why we're hired?
What's your, Instinct?
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