A Texas car salesman is raising a stink about his ex-boss for subjecting him and other male underlings to incessant farts and nipple-pinching, according to reports.
Brett Bland, who worked at the AutoNation Acura Gulf in League City near Houston, filed a lawsuit against Jeremy Pratt and parent company CT Motors, according to the Star-Telegram.
“He 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,” according to the lawsuit.
The crude boss’ behavior included “constant taunting, inappropriate banter and making extremely crass, vulgar and rude comments to or at the expense of (Bland),” creating a “sexually hostile environment” at work and on social media.
Pratt also pinched Bland’s and other male subordinates’ nipples, Bland alleges, adding that the crass behavior was tolerated in the office and by upper management.
Bland said Pratt warned that if anyone complained about him, company honchos wouldn’t act because Pratt had the director of human resources “wrapped around his finger.”
In one alleged incident, Pratt sent a group text to several workers including a doctored image of Bland that falsely warned the other recipients that he might be a sex offender.
According to the lawsuit, Pratt warned the employees to “keep your children safe” and “you are receiving this because there may be a risk of sex offender activity in your area.”
Bland also said Pratt made another employee Photoshop Bland’s image onto a background that resembled a jail booking photo or sex offender ID photo.
Pratt eventually was axed, but the dealership subjected Bland to a policy in which he would be let go if he didn’t sell eight vehicles a month, according to the lawsuit.
The “8 or the gate” policy was not in effect before Pratt was fired, according to the lawsuit, which also claims AutoNation has continued to allow Pratt to loiter at the dealership, where he continues to belittle Bland and others.
“This is a pending legal matter on which we have no comment, other than to say that we previously investigated the matter several months ago and took appropriate action,” AutoNation told Click2Houston in a statement.