Jones v. The Lodge at Torrey Pines P’ship, 147 Cal. App. 4th 475 (2007)

Scott Jones was employed by The Lodge at Torrey Pines (LTP) as its outlet manager and was responsible for the restaurant, bar, catering, banquet events and the beverage cart service to golfers. At trial Jones testified that Jean Weiss, LTP’s food and beverage director, and another employee directed graphic “gaybashing” jokes at Jones and made sexual remarks about female employees and Jones. Jones complained to the HR director about sexual orientation discrimination and harassment and about sexual harassment of his female coworkers. The HR director told Jones that he would have to ask Weiss’s permission to seek the counseling he had requested and suggested that Jones quit his job because “things like this get worse.” Over the next six months, Jones was subjected to retaliation and further acts of harassment. After he resigned, Jones filed a lawsuit. His claims for sexual orientation discrimination and retaliation went to a jury, which awarded Jones compensatory damages in the amount of $1.395 million against LTP and $155,000 against Weiss. The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment in favor of Jones.