Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness

Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness

Ken Webster is a talk radio personality and producer from Houston, TX. He started his career in Chicago on the Mancow show and has since worked at...Full Bio

 

Houston-area Man Sues Over Farts & Pinched Nipples

There's news of a lawsuit coming out of the south Houston area involving farts and pinched nipples.

Honestly, if that doesn't spark your interests, we can't even be friends. Seriously, if you didn't at least grin when you heard there was a fart & pinched-nipple related lawsuit brewing here in the greater Houston area, don't look me in the eyes if you see me on the street, because we are not part of the same species.

Anyway, this case involves a used car salesman from League City (which is actually not so much of a city, but more of a town).  Brett Bland is suing a former co-worker and their employer, Jeremy Pratt and CT Motors, Inc. The company operates AutoNation Acura Gulf Freeway.

In the lawsuit, Bland claims Pratt was guilty of, "constant taunting, inappropriate banter and making extremely crass, vulgar and rude comments to or at the expense of (Bland)," and creating a "sexually hostile environment." These incidents allegedly took place at work and on social media.

Bland said Pratt "reinforced dominance over his subordinates by regularly entering their enclosed offices, intentionally passing gas, and then laughing as they were forced to breathe soiled air."

Sounds pretty funny! But is this illegal?

 According to the lawsuit, Pratt was fired for sending a flyer to all the employees at the dealership which implied Bland was a sex offender (he's not).  You don’t have to be Mel Brooks to know that wrongly accusing someone of being a sex offender isn’t as funny as fart jokes.

So that's the end of the story, right? Nothing else to see here - the bully was fired, after all. Actually, that's not the end of the story. This is where it gets uglier. Uglier than farts and pinched nipples? Well, sorta, yeah.

After Pratt was fired, Bland claims there was retaliation against him by management. He says he was required to sell eight vehicles per month or face termination. According to Bland, this policy did not exist before the incident with Pratt.  Bland also says management would continue to allow Pratt to hang out around work even though he was fired, allowing Pratt to harass Bland and other employees.

The lawsuit doesn't identify a dollar amount or what Bland wants from Pratt and the dealership, but it’s safe to assume he probably wants some money.

So what do y'all think, folks? Is this just another case of boys will be boys or is the dealership out of line? Personally, I've never held a job in a place where people didn't think farts and sex jokes were funny (but I work on an edgy radio show with people who I consider to be good friends).

So what about Pratt and Bland? Is someone at fault here?  Pratt? Bland?  The dealership? Does someone owe someone else an apology (or a large settlement)? 

This harassment lawsuit involves two male co-workers, which is actually somewhat uncommon for these kinds of cases. Typically the alleged victim in workplace harassment suits is a woman, but that doesn't mean the same laws don't still apply when everyone involved is a man. We all have the same basic right to work.  

Seriously, purple-nurples are funny.  When you’re 8. 


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