A former employee at a high powered New York events company claims he was degraded and his play was slashed to match "other females in the office," once his boss learned he was gay.
In a lawsuit filed this week, US man Wesley Wereneck says he was alienated at company Eventique - which stages promotional events for companies including Nike, Twitter And Amazon - by CEO Henry Liron David.
"Wesley was personally recruited by this employer to be a senior producer, and once he learned he was gay, the employer began shutting him out of the business," Wernecke's lawyer, Anthony Consiglio told NBC News.
According to The Guardian, Wernecke says a week after being hired in June, co-workers made snide comments about his engagement ring, calling it "girly". When asked if his wife wore a similar ring, Wernecke told them his partner, Evan, did.
He says it was then that a concerning office environment began to develop, as he was excluded from meetings and social events, passed over for assignments with large commissions and subjected to discriminatory remarks.
"David took pains to mark Wernecke as different from the other employees through these physical demonstrations," his lawyer claims.
"Neither Wernecke's professional experience and accomplishments nor the goodwill he brought to Eventique's work earned him equality."
Finally, Wernecke claims he was called into David's office and told his salary was being cut by more than 50 percent, from US$145,000 to $70,000.
"I couldn't sleep at night thinking that you were being paid so much more than the other females in the office," David allegedly to have told Wernecke. The CEO, the complaint alleges, "simply could not bear the thought that Eventique would continue to be represented by a gay man", and Werneck was reportedly fired on October 4.
David's legal team is reportedly calling the allegations "baseless".
