Posted on 09/01/2014 6:56:27 PM PDT by massmike
A former trainee manager at Little Caesars pizza in California sued the company for discrimination on Wednesday, accusing the Detroit-based chain of denying employees health insurance benefits for their legally wed same-sex spouses.
The lawsuit was brought in state Superior Court in Orange County, regional headquarters for the nation's third-largest pizza chain, by Frank Bernard, 47, who said he quit his job after Little Caesars refused to extend coverage to his husband of six years.
"I didn't want anything special, I just wanted the same benefits package as heterosexual couples," Bernard said at a news conference in Los Angeles.
The lawsuit names Little Caesars Enterprises and its parent company, Ilitch Holdings, as defendants, accusing them of discriminating against Bernard on the basis of his sexual orientation, in violation of California law.
It cites a letter Little Caesars presented Bernard explaining a benefits policy that defined "spouse" as "the one person to whom you are legally married under the laws of the state in which you reside, including common law spouse, and who is the opposite gender from you."
The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages and a court order requiring the company to treat gay and straight married workers equally in providing employment benefits.
Neither Little Caesars nor Ilitch Holdings responded to requests for comment on the case.
Bernard and his partner were among some 18,000 gay and lesbian California couples who married in 2008 during a five-month window between a state Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex matrimony and passage of Proposition 8 banning it in November of that year.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Not insulting your intelligence at all. Disagree with your taste in pizza. I have no idea how many kids you do or don’t have.
Just messing with you.
I’m actually not sure what my insult threshold really is.
And, Caesars pizza can be really bad or really good. Depends on how it’s made and cooked.
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