What to Know
- Wesley Wernecke claims in a lawsuit filed in NYC that his co-workers and the CEO at Eventique discriminated against him because he is gay
- The lawsuit also says the CEO had lowered Wernecke’s salary from $145,000 to $58,000, or 40% less than the starting salary he was promised
- CEO Henry Liron David’s lawyer, Gena Zaiderman, denied the allegations, calling them “baseless”
A former employee at a high-profile event company in New York City filed a discrimination complaint this week, claiming the agency slashed his pay and then fired him because of his sexuality, his lawyer Anthony Consiglio tells NBC News.
A week after Wesley Wernecke was hired at Eventique in June, his coworkers commented on his “girly” engagement ring. When a coworker asked if his wife wore a similar ring, Wernecke replied that his partner, Evan, did. From that point on, tension developed between Wernecke and his coworkers and CEO Henry Liron David that had not existed before, according to the complaint.
By October, Wernecke was fired. The lawsuit also says David had lowered Wernecke’s salary from $145,000 to $58,000, or 40% less than the starting salary he was promised when he left his former job. “I couldn't sleep at night thinking that you were being paid so much more than the other females in the office,” David told Wernecke, according to the complaint.
David’s lawyer, Gena Zaiderman, denied the allegations, calling them “baseless.”
