A federal civil rights discrimination lawsuit alleging harassment and job termination based on gender ID has been filed by a transgender man against a Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee. The alleged incidents started at a shop located in Scarborough, Maine. The franchisee, Cafua Management, based in Methuen, Massachusetts, owns hundreds of doughnut shops across seven states.
The plaintiff’s lawyers told the Portland Press Herald that the case is the first filed in the state citing the US Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold protections for gender ID and sexual orientation until federal civil rights law.
Reports the Press Herald:
[Kye] Hubbard worked as a shift leader at the Scarborough location from February 2018 until he was let go Jan. 25, 2019. The complaint alleges the harassment began when Hubbard’s manager, Brandon Avery, revealed Hubbard’s transgender status to co-workers in May 2018, despite Hubbard’s wish to keep his status confidential. Following that, the complaint said co-workers began harassing Hubbard.
“They called him names like ‘it,’ ‘he/she,’ and ‘thing’ on multiple occasions,” the complaint said.
Hubbard reported the incidents, and while a regional manager promised to terminate the employees, the company instead transferred Avery to another location, and the other employees quit. Hubbard’s new manager, Jen Arnott, according to the complaint, “began treating him differently” upon learning of Hubbard’s transgender status. The complaint alleged Arnott changed the computer password to lock Hubbard out, revoked some of his shift leader duties, and excluded him from management discussions.
The complaint said Arnott also posted a customer complaint about Hubbard, something that rarely happened, and posted a form listing Hubbard’s birth name, rather than the name “Kye,” which he goes by now. When Hubbard complained, Arnott offered him a sexual favor in exchange for his silence, and called him “sexy” in a note, according to the court document.
Upon reporting to the regional manager again, Hubbard’s complaint indicates he was told to “deal with it.”
Hubbard reported the incidents to the Maine Human Rights Commission on Jan. 17, 2019, and told Arnott on Jan. 22 that he had done so. On his next shift, Jan. 25, he was fired, supposedly for vaping at the back of the store. The complaint notes “Other employees at the Payne Road Dunkin’ Donuts also vaped in the back of the store, on countless occasions, and within view of the surveillance cameras,” and indicates Arnott did not usually object as long as customers did not see it.
The complaint lists two counts: Discrimination, retaliation and hostile work environment, and Whistleblower retaliation. For each, the complaint is asking for Hubbard’s reinstatement, back pay going back to Jan. 25, 2019, $500,000 for pain and suffering, and attorney’s fees.
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