A Texas man has been granted the ability to pursue a retaliatory discharge claim against his former employer, Sewell Lexus of Dallas, according to a ruling by a federal judge.
The ruling comes as part of a federal wrongful termination suit levied against the Texas dealership by its former employee, as first reported on by Automotive News. The ruling handed down on December 4, 2024 states that the former sales manager was reportedly terminated after pornographic images of his wife were posted to Twitter, Instagram, PornHub, and Only Fans. These images were circulated among dealership employees and, after internal discussions with the store’s general manager and executive vice president, the sales manager was terminated because he wasn’t fit to work “in an environment where people don’t want to work with him”, according to court documents. The 10-year employee believed this termination report was fraudulent, having been allegedly advised to blame his firing on a corporate restructuring. However, the plaintiff’s lawyers state that they believe the dealer used his wife’s pornography to fire him, and that he was disciplined for speaking up about other discriminatory practices at the dealer. The dealership has denied any wrongdoing, and explained that the reason behind the firing was nondiscriminatory and non-retaliatory — and declared that the plaintiff’s connection to pornographic materials had become problematic in the workplace, according to court documents viewed by Automotive News.
U.S. Chief District Judge David Godbey dismissed a connected racial discrimination allegation by the former employee; however, the judge did question if the dealer’s personnel policy could be applied to the former employee’s wife. Additionally, Godbey questioned whether the employee could have been fired for adult materials he wasn’t even believed to be involved in.
Now, the former employee is free to pursue a retaliatory discharge claim against the dealership, potentially amounting to damages in the form of lost wages or coverage for medical care related to emotional distress. Lawyers for both the dealership and former employee declined to comment when asked by Automotive News.
