Takeaway: An employee's claim that he was terminated because he came out as gay could not succeed when there was uncontroverted evidence that the employee was fired after the company discovered that he had altered documents relating to tuition reimbursement requests.

An employee who alleged that he was terminated because he came out as gay and that he experienced harassment based on his sexual orientation could not proceed to trial on either claim, a federal appeals court recently ruled.

His employer said it terminated the employee for misreporting tuition reimbursement information for his ongoing graduate school program—a valid nondiscriminatory reason for his discharge that was not shown to be pretextual. Furthermore, the workplace incidents the employee cited were not sufficiently severe or pervasive to support a harassment claim based on a hostile work environment.

The employee worked as a recruitment administrator for the employer from November 2014 to March 2016. He agreed he did not experience discrimination until December 2015. Around that time, he revealed to a high-level official at the company that he is gay.

The employee alleged that after he came out, the employer engaged in closer scrutiny of his requests for reimbursement for graduate classes he was taking, which resulted in his termination.

In February and April 2015, the employee submitted requests for tuition reimbursement, which were approved. But on Dec. 30, 2015, after he came out as gay, he submitted...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiemh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnNocm0ub3JnL3Jlc291...