Gay Man Sues Over Salary Allegedly Slashed to Match 'Other Females'

A gay man who worked for a New York-based event company was allegedly told by his boss that his salary was being slashed in half to match the pay of the "other females in the office" after he came out at work. He was fired two weeks later and is now suing the company, Eventique, according to the New York Post.

The plaintiff, Wesley Wernecke, 32 began working at the company as a senior producer in June after being recruited from Boston to Manhattan, according to the lawsuit. He had been with Eventique for about a week when he told a colleague he was gay when asked in front of owner Henry "Liron" David about his "flashy" and "girly" wedding ring. When Wernecke said he was gay, the colleague allegedly asked, "So what does your wife's ring look like?"

Not only did David fail to censure the colleague, he also began leaving Wernecke out of invites to conferences and drinks with the "fellas."

On September 20, David informed Wernecke that his salary was being cut 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 said, according to the lawsuit, filed Wednesday.

"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," according to court documents.

Wernecke's salary was lowered even further to $58,000, and by October 4, David fired him, alleging that there were "errors" and "deficiencies" in his work.

"These acts cannot be reconciled with the liberal antidiscrimination positions written into law in New York City and State to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender people in their workplaces," Wernecke's attorney Anthony Consiglio told the Post.

Meanwhile, David's lawyer Gena Zaiderman has called the claims "shocking" and "baseless."