Posted on 02/22/2006 9:41:27 AM PST by jimluke01
Christian settles with Allstate Ex-employee claimed firm fired him due to anti-homosexual column Posted: February 22, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Ron Strom © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
A Christian former employee of Allstate has settled a lawsuit with the company he had filed claiming he was fired because of an anti-homosexual, anti-same-sex marriage column he wrote on his own time.
As WorldNetDaily reported, J. Matt Barber was a manager in Allstate's Corporate Security Division, its investigative arm, at the Fortune 100 company's headquarters in Northbrook, Ill. Besides working for the insurance provider, Barber was and is a professional heavyweight boxer, a jazz drummer and a Web commentator. His columns have appeared on TheConservativeVoice.com, MensNewsDaily.com and others.
The column in question was written and posted in December 2004. After being called into a meeting with two human resources officials who confronted Barber about the column, he was fired effective Feb. 3.
Though the original column's bio line did not indicate Barber worked for Allstate, editors at one of the sites where it was posted added that information, and a complaint about the piece made its way to Allstate management.
With the help of the Christian Law Association and David Gibbs III, who represented Terri Schiavo's family in the final weeks of her life, Barber sued Allstate in federal court. That suit has been settled out of court, and neither side, per a confidentiality agreement, are saying much about it.
"My family and I feel like a weight has been lifted," Barber told WND. "We're in a position now where we can move forward with our lives."
Barber said he couldn't reveal details of the settlement, which lawyers announced Thursday.
Christian advocacy groups got behind Barber in the battle, and eight members of Congress got involved as well.
"I think Allstate saw the writing on the wall," Peter LaBarbera, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, told the Chicago Tribune. "I think they would have lost a lot of business over this."
Barber now is working for Republican candidate for governor in Illinois, Jim Oberweis.
"I'm trying to do my part to get him elected March 21 in the Republican primary," Barber said. "He's the pro-life, pro-family candidate here in Illinois."
Oberweis faces fellow Republican Judy Baar Topinka, whom Barber describes as a "liberal," along with two other candidates. The winner will attempt to unseat incumbent Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Previous stories:
Congressmen jump into Allstate fight
Fired Allstate manager starts website
E-mails pour into Allstate over firing
Allstate terminates manager over homosexuality column
I hope he got a lot of $$$!
Allstate is an insurance firm that likes to litigate its auto accident claims. They are very hard to deal with.
Imagine that. An insurance company settling out of court. Unheard of. Proves their guilt. /sarc
Makes me want to take up the pen.
Allstate has a confideniality agreement, which will forbid him from providing the amount, but it will be more than a couple of dollars.
Some gay woman (a lawyer, I think) complained to Allstate and that was why he was fired. I remember the original article.
I won't be dealing with the over-price Allstate insurance, even with their ads about "accident forgiveness," etc. Plus Allstate shoves it's disaster losses onto auto policy prices. Add on top of that their utter intolerance of free speech and I'll stick with Mercury insurance.
Barber did not associate Allstate with his writings in any way.
The gay activists named Allstate as his employer and used that with great success to have him fired for not supporting the gay agenda.
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