Gay man claims his pay was reduced to be in line with 'other female' staff

An ex-employee's lawsuit claims he was fired after the CEO created a 'hostile' and 'rigidly heterosexual' office environment

An ex-employee of a New York events company filed a discrimination lawsuit at the New York Supreme Court after claiming his former boss had slashed his pay and excluded him from company events and commissions. (AFP via Getty Images)

A gay former employee at a New York events company claims that the firm fired him after it threatened to slash his pay more than 50 per cent because he earned "so much more than the other females in the office".

Wesley Wernecke's discrimination lawsuit alleges that executives at the agency, Eventique Group International, were "shutting him out of the business" after its CEO learned he was gay, NBC News reports.

Gena Zaiderman, an attorney for Eventique CEO Henry Liron David, who is named in the suit, called the allegations "baseless".

Mr Wernecke's complaint filed in the state's Supreme Court Civil Branch in Manhattan alleges that Mr David "sidelined and ostracised" Mr Wernecke and "mocked and allowed other employees to mock Mr Wernecke's sexual orientation".

It also says Mr Wernecke was excluded from company meetings while his responsibilities were diminished before Mr David "abruptly" reduced his salary to less than 50 per cent of an agreed-upon rate that was set just four months earlier.

Two weeks after discovering his pay had been significantly reduced, Mr Wernecke was "abruptly terminated" by Mr David, who cited "performance concerns that had never been previously raised".

Mr David had recruited Mr Wernecke in April while Mr Wernecke was working at a Boston firm. He was formally hired the following month with an annual salary of $145,000.

According to the suit, Mr Wernecke also was loaned $29,200 for relocation expenses with the expectation that Mr Wernecke pay back the loan through his salary, commissions and discretionary bonus. He began a full-time role in June.

That month, after Mr Wernecke revealed he was married to a male partner, employees stopped inviting him to meetings and lunches while Mr David created a "hostile" and "rigidly heterosexual" working environment that encouraged homophobic jokes and harassment, leading to Mr Wernecke's "intense mental pain and suffering" while his commissions were diverted to other staff, the suit says.

In September, Mr David allegedly told him his salary would be lowered to $70,000 because he "couldn't sleep at night thinking that you were being paid so much more than the other females in the office", according to the suit. Mr Wernecke later discovered that his salary was actually lowered to $58,000.

In October, Mr David terminated Mr Wernecke's employment.

Mr Werneck's suit seeks damages for lost wages and benefits, punitive damages and attorney fees, to be determined at trial, as well as anti-discrimination training for Mr David and Eventique.