Gross news out of Manhattan this morning: A former employee of an event planning company has filed a lawsuit claiming his boss slashed his salary for being gay.
Wesley Wernecke, 32, began working with Eventique this June, the New York Post reports. Just a week after joining the company, a coworker asked about his wedding ring, and Wernecke mentioned his husband, Evan. Wernecke’s boss, Henry “Liron” David, was also present at the time, and, according to court filings, took immediate retaliatory action.
Wernecke claims that David began excluding him from company meetings, business assignments and after-work drinks with male coworkers. “David took all these tactics to exclude Wernecke because David had already made up his mind that, despite the proficiency of Wernecke’s work, he would not accept having an openly gay man working in the office, and he intended to get rid of Wernecke,” the court documents read.
Related: Trial begins in discrimination case for St. Louis cop told to “tone down his gayness”
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Just three months into Wernecke’s tenure, David also informed him that he would be cutting his salary from $145,000 to $70,000. “I couldn’t sleep at night thinking you were being paid so much more than the other females in the office,” David reportedly said at the time. In actuality, David cut Wernecke’s salary to under $58,000.
Two weeks after the meeting, David fired Wernecke, citing “deficiencies” in his performance. “About a week and a half after Wesley began work in the office, the employer learned he is gay, and then immediately began systematically shutting him out of the job,” Wernecke’s lawyer, Anthony Consiglio, said. “These acts cannot be reconciled with the liberal anti-discrimination positions written into law in New York City and State to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender people in their workplaces.”
Henry David has denied all charges of discrimination. The case remains pending in a Manhattan court.
Catholicslutbox
I guess he’s okay with men making more than females as long as they’re not gay.
calpoidog
Exactly. Sounds like the women that work there also have a discrimination lawsuit.
powersthatbe
Poor guy. This is pretty disgusting, and must have been terrible for him to go through. I hope Wesley takes this Henry David for everything allowed under law, and does not settle out of court. This guy needs to be made an example of, especially in Trump’s America.
dinard38
Man I hope Wernecke wins this lawsuit. He should have a good chance of winning big given the anti-discrimination laws in New York. There’s no way this bastard can justify slashing an employee’s salary by over 50% overnight. Sue that bastard for everything he’s worth. I can’t stand hateful people like this. Makes no damn sense.
TruthBeKnown
This story doesn’t pass the smell test. I doubt Wernecke is telling the full story. Qweerty should get both sides of the story before publishing something so one-sided as this.
Cam
What a shock, one of the right wing troll accounts tries to defend the bigots.
TruthBeKnown
@Cam Wrong buddy — I’m no Right Winger nut job. Just someone with enough intelligence and experience to usually smell a bad, one-sided story. Follow this story over the next few weeks, and I’ll bet you we’ll learn there’s a lot more to the story than what Wernecke claimed.
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Homophobic event planning company….Does that noxious vile puke know what business he is in??
JarodD
how do you work in event planning and have a problem with gays like how many straight male event planners are there compared to gay male event planners. Thats like hiring a male hair stylist at a salon that isnt specifically an old timey barbershop and being surprised if the guy is gay.
Curtispsf
Wait. The “old timey” barber shops are NOT gay? Then all the blowjobs I’ve given to guys there are all for naught? Oh, Boo Hoo. I guess I’ll just have to start hanging out in bathroom stalls near Republican Congressmen’s offices.
Bob LaBlah
It might be that he hired the guy looking for a buddy to hang out with after work and once he found out Butch was gay he got repulsed and had to get rid of him. News flash: it happens everyday folks.
masteradrian031
The employer at the same time admits that females are payed less then males, committing the crime of gender-discrimination!
Seems to me that regardless of being guilty of discrimination of gay people, he’s also to be found guilty of discrimination against women!
Wil
“I couldn’t sleep at night thinking you were being paid so much more than the other females in the office,” … Really?!?! Not much question of really mean discrimination to tell a male who is gay that he’s gettin more than “the other females”.
Kangol2
Wrong city, state and field to be a homophobic and a misogynistic boss/employer, but there’s an imbecile born and/or raised every day, and Henry David sounds like one.
He’ll probably lose the lawsuit, have to pay up, and see real damage to his event-planning business (there are a number of good ones in NYC, BTW), and justice will be served.
Curtispsf
How’s THIS for an “Event Planner’s Nightmare”?: Having to cater a victory party against a notorious homophobe when the jury awards a multimillion dollar verdict.