What's more Roguish than an employer who discriminates against someone because of race, religion, gender or sexual preference? An employee who cries wolf, giving a bum rap to civil-rights protections with false claims of discrimination. Portland cook David Sims has cried foul two times in the past year, claiming that Besaw's Cafe, the homey neighborhood eatery on Northwest 23rd Avenue, fired him because he's gay. Sims was fired in May 1996 when managers told him he wasn't a "good fit." He subsequently filed a discrimination suit in Multnomah County Circuit Court, saying Besaw's actions violated Portland's broad workers-rights ordinance. Last month Judge Pro Tem Monte Bricker tossed out the case, saying Portland's ordinance carried no weight in state court. Portland's progressive ordinance includes the class of "sexual orientation," whereas state and federal protections do not. Lost in the subsequent media coverage was the fact that even if Bricker had allowed the Sims case to go forward, it's doubtful Sims would have prevailed. Sims filed the same complaint a year earlier at the Bureau of Labor and Industries, and investigators tossed the complaint out for being unsubstantiated. This is hardly surprising. Sims' co-worker Bill Mankowski and Besaw's chief chef Daniel McGinnis both testified that Sims was a lousy employee. He didn't prepare the food correctly. He blew off critiques. He made obscene jokes within earshot of customers. He didn't pay attention, and often strayed from his position on the food line to get coffee. After just four days, McGinnis fired Sims. Based on the restaurant's queer-friendly history, BOLI found Sims' claim even more tenuous. Besaw's advertises in the Gay & Lesbian Yellow Pages, currently employs two gay waiters and has employed several gays in the past (including a cross-dressing cook). McGinnis told BOLI that he believed Sims was gay when he first hired him. Sims' number has been disconnected, but Renee Jacobs, his attorney, says Sims deserves his day in court to prove he was discriminated against. She says management's message to Sims ("to tone things down") was a euphemism for homophobia. Sims certainly has a right to file a complaint at BOLI. The testimony, however, reveals that his claim may have been disingenuous. Mankowski told BOLI investigators that Sims boasted that as a gay African American he had absolute job security. Mankowski also says that Sims boasted of filing gay discrimination claims before coming to Besaw's. |
