Update on Tennessee hotel dismissal of LGBT people

Posted on January 15, 2009
Filed Under Uncategorized

Hotel Owner Denies Firing Gay People @ MSNBC - reports:

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – A hotel manager who said the owner made him fire an employee for being gay has now been fired himself.

A number of other former employees said they were let go by the owner, Tarun Surti, because they were gay, while others said they were fired because they were women.

Channel 4 News first reported last week that employee David Hill’s said he was fired from the Arte’ Hotel in Brentwood because he was gay.

After the story aired, more people came forward with employment discrimination complaints and said they’ve filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Pressure increases on Tennessee hotelier after more former … @ PageOneQ.com reports:

The battle against Tarun Surti, owner of the ARTE’ Hotel in Brentwood, Tennessee, is intensifying. More workers have come forward with discrimination complaints in the wake of two recent firings of openly gay staff members. At least two have retained legal counsel.

On January 8, WSMV-TV reported that David Hill, the hotel’s former director of human resources, had been terminated and “dared” to sue. His supervisor, assistant general manager Leonard Stoddard, told him that Surti ordered the firing specifically because he didn’t want gays in leadership roles at his establishment. Surti’s cultural background was a homophobic one, Stoddard explained to WSMV.

Mr. Hill has since filed complaints with the EEOC and Department of Labor, but has little hope, given that both Surti and his hotel are bankrupt. On finding out that Stoddard talked to the press, he too was let go via e-mail.

Tennessee hotelier fires second gay man after he talks to the press @ PageOneQ.com reported earlier:

The firings continue at a Tennessee hotel after its assistant general manager spoke out against its owner for dismissing a man for being gay.

David Hill, former director of human resources for ARTE’ Hotel in Brentwood, said that he was “dared” to sue after being told the decision by owner Tarun Surti to terminate his employment on January 8 was specifically on the basis of his sexual orientation; assistant general manager Leonard Stoddard confirmed it to the press.

“The owner, Mr. Surti, comes from a culture that is not very tolerant to the gay lifestyle,” Stoddard, who was ordered to dismiss Hill, told WSMV-TV, “and therefore he felt it necessary to have him removed from the workforce at the property.”

Stoddard, also openly gay, has since been given his walking papers, Out & About reported. “I am here in the office and shocked to hear what you had said to the media,” Surti e-mailed Stoddard. “If it is true that you told media that David was fired because he is gay, you obviously told them a lie. Such behavior is subject to immediate termination and I would like you to restrain (sic) from coming to the hotel.”