Greg Abbott
A state appeals court on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit accusing Republican Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office of anti-gay employment discrimination.
In February 2009, Vic Gardner resigned from his job at a Tyler call center run by the AG’s office, where he’d worked for about three years, alleging a hostile work environment.
Gardner received excellent performance reviews until an office costume party, where his supervisor concluded he was gay, according to his lawsuit. Once the supervisor determined Gardner was gay, he was repeatedly disciplined until he resigned.
In dismissing Gardner’s case, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals said Gardner presented no evidence he was dismissed from the job and not enough evidence of a hostile work environment. The court said Gardner presented no evidence he was demoted, lost job responsibilities or was given a choice of being fired or quitting.
Attorney Jason Smith, who represents Gardner, said the court determined there’s wasn’t enough evidence that the workplace hostility was so severe that the conditions were intolerable, forcing his client to resign.
This was despite the fact that at a deposition, one witness testified that the supervisor told Gardner to “try to not be so out at work.”
Smith said being told to not be who you are is pretty severe.
“The court’s opinion sidesteps outlining what rights gays and lesbians have under the Texas Constitution,” Smith said.
Gardner hasn’t decided whether to appeal.
“We’re considering a rehearing at the Court of Appeals,” Smith said. That would begin with a rehearing by the three-judge panel and could then be appealed to a hearing by the full court.
Smith called Abbott “proactively hostile” to the LGBT community for removing protections for gay and lesbian employees from the department’s equal employment policies that had been put in place by Dan Morales in the 1990s. Abbott’s predecessor, John Cornyn, left that policy in place.
Abbott recently announced he’s running for governor in 2014.
