Former Gay Toyota Employee Filed A Lawsuit For Har
Boston, MA
August 29th, 2007
Associated Press
A high volume Massachusetts Toyota Motors Dealership has been charged with Sexual Harassment & Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and is being sued by a Former Toyota Employee.
Phillip Daggett, 28 of Fall River, MA is a former Sales & Leasing Consultant of Route 44 Toyota in Raynham, MA. Mr. Daggett has brought forward charges against Toyota after he states that he was harassed and discriminated against because of his sexual orientation. The charges were brought before the MCAD, Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, in Boston, MA when Mr. Daggett said that after several attempts to have the harassment stop, it did not. The harassment had come from both his coworkers and managers of the dealership and ranged from name calling, teasing and taunting, threats, and other activities both witnessed by his customers and other coworkers which ultimately affected his sales and performance.
Mr. Daggett said that the incidents all started taking place in June of 2007 when he was asked by a coworker if he had ever worked in a gay bar. Daggett denied this not knowing the employees reason for asking. When he dug in more he had found out that his coworkers and managers had googled him as he was recognized from an incident that attracted worldwide media attention a year ago.
On February 2nd, 2006 Phillip Daggett had worked as a bartender for Puzzles Lounge in New Bedford, MA when an 18 year old man, Jacob Robida, came into the bar armed with a hatchet and a handgun and launched an attack on the patrons of the bar, severely injuring three people, all because they were gay. Daggett assisted people in the bar to get to safety when he came face to face with Jacob Robida who pointed the gun at Daggett's head and pulled the trigger. Luckily for Daggett Robida's gun had been out of bullets. Robida then fled to Arkansas with a female companion. When he was stopped by police officer Jim Sell in a routine traffic stop Robida shot and killed the officer. He then led police on a 15 mile pursuit which ended in a shootout between Robida and the police. Robida shot and killed his female travel companion, Jennifer Bailey, and then took his own life with a self inflicted gunshot wound to his head. Daggett later played a role standing along side City Councilman Joe DeMedeiros before the New Bedford City Council on February 10th to pass a bill declaring New Bedford a "Hate Free Zone". He also launched a fund for the victims of the attack assisting with medical bills and the cost of living which had been negatively impacted as a result of the attack. Daggett was in the headlines for months following this attack.
In one of the incidents reported by Mr. Daggett he said that his business cards were altered by a coworker who had replaced the "D" in his last name (Daggett) to an "F" (Faggett). He also states that he was paged over the dealerships intercom system, well heard inside and outside of the dealership, "Phillip Faggett to the showroom for customer assistance" by one of his coworkers upon a customer’s arrival to see Mr. Daggett at the dealership. Mr. Daggett also states that on an almost daily basis he would be referred to by his coworkers as "Daggett Faggett" or "Phillip Faggett". He said that they would say this and laugh about it even though he asked many times for them not stop.
On many occasions Daggett reported that he had gone to management to address his concerns and that nothing had been done about it. He said that the managers would tell him to get "thick skin" and to deal with it if he wanted to work there and make good money. On one occasion Daggett had reported that he was told by a manager "whether you are or are not gay is your business, but me and a lot of other guys here are family men and come from good Christian backgrounds. I believe that being gay is a mortal sin and people like that will have their day and burn in hell." This statement Daggett says came from his immediate supervisor at Toyota. This same manager on another reported incident had degraded Mr. Daggett in front of his customer when he yelled at him, threatened to fire him, and told him "you are in the same class as a female, you are too weak and emotional, and this is why you do not see many girls at all in this business."
When Phillip Daggett had been late to a sales meeting in June 2007 he reported that he was told by a manager to get into the back of a pickup truck in the dealerships lot, he did so. The manager then allegedly told Mr. Daggett to sing and dance to the children's song "I'm A Little Teapot" In front of more than twenty coworkers and also a handful of customers. Daggett refused, but was told by this manager that if he did not do it that he would not be allowed to sell a car until he did. So he sang, as all of his peers stood around watching and laughing. Daggett says that he was teased for weeks about this incident by his coworkers.
In Mr. Daggett's complaint it also alleges that another manager referred to him as a "pansy" and a "fucking queer" in the presence of another customer. This customer reportedly left the dealership and did not return to buy a car. These attacks at Mr. Daggett had continued until he felt as though with nothing being done about it he sought the advice of an attorney, Doug Surprenant from Holbrook, MA. Doug Surprenant filed the charges against Route 44 Toyota with the MCAD on August 20th, 2007.
After Route 44 Toyota had learned that Daggett had retained an attorney and was pursuing charges against them they asked of him to resign, in which he did not do immediately. He continued working at the dealership as it was his only source of financial security and hoped that things would get better and that management would finally do something about it, but they did not. Daggett says that the harassment still continued and that management not only suggested that he resign, but also that he drop everything because "people have families to put food on the table for and roofs to keep over their heads, are you really going to let some name calling and teasing ruin the reputation of the dealership?" This was said to him by the General Manager of the Toyota Dealership. The pressure and harassment continued Daggett said until he felt he had no other choice but to resign.
In his statement issued to the MCAD Phillip Daggett had reported dozens of incidents that took place during the course of his employment with Toyota. Daggett states that both the management and owners of the dealership were informed of these incidents and took no corrective action against any of its employees or management. Daggett believes that the managers and coworkers fed on his anger and depression caused by the incidents and continued to harass him knowing that they were not in any trouble for doing it. Mr. Daggett expressed that the dealership should have had someone that you could go to that would take these matters seriously and not allow it to continue any further and says that in the course of his employment that there has never been any training or in-services on harassment, not even following his complaint with the MCAD.
A press liaison for the MCAD in Boston, MA confirms the case has been filed and said that they will begin the discovery stages once they obtain Toyota's response to the charges. They expect to have a resolution in less than a year’s time, but that there is a process involved including the potential for a public hearing if a settlement is not reached and agreed upon by both parties.
For Press Inquiries Relating To This Story Please Contact:
Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination
One Ashburton Place
Sixth Floor, Room 601
Boston, MA 02108
Phone: 617-994-6000
Phillip Daggett (former employee suing Toyota)
By email - pd1202tp@yahoo.com
Attorney Doug Surprenant(Daggett’s Attorney)
40 South Franklin Street
Holbrook, MA 02343
(781) 767-9300
Route 44 Toyota
1154 New State Highway
Raynham, MA 02767
(508) 824-4044
Posted by MaryCollins on 2007-08-29 14:09:10 | Rating: | Views: 763
That is great that he is not harassed. People should be judged at work by their work ethic and not by who they love. Sadly in this case it is not so, this employee was treated in a not so professional and not so legal manner. It is a shame, it truly is.
Just so you all know, this guy sues everybody and files complaints all over the place. Check the Fall River and New Bedford Police on this one. He even tried to sue taco bell. This is just another ploy to gain attention like always.
Sorry, what I meant to say is that a complaint was made against taco bell, however, the complaint was false. But if you read up on the whole taco bell thing, it seems the police may want to press charges against him:
Opiates Found in Taco Bell Taco; A Massachusetts Mystery
The Falls River Major Crimes Division has cleared Taco Bell in the case of the spiked taco. "Police reported "an opiate" was found in the half-eaten taco a Fall River man said made him sick after eating at the Taco Bell." Unfortunately for local Fall River lawyers, it seems like the dude spiked his own taco. After the half-eaten morsel was analyzed at the state crime lab, the opiates in the taco were confirmed, but the alleged taco victim, "Phillip Daggett, 27, has declined to cooperate in the investigation and has refused to speak with a detective assigned to the department's Major Crimes Division."
"As of right now, he's not returning our calls," [Police] said."
Police have cleared the Taco Bell of any wrong-doing, and Phillip will most likely be charged with filing a false police report. Bad consumer! Bad! —MEGHANN MARCO
Drug confirmed in taco; Fall River restaurant cleared[South Coast Today]
ss charges for making a FALSE claim.
Okay, so Phillip had other situations is his past, so this means that his credibility may not be 100% on his side. However in all fairness this article that you are making mention of I have read and it is referring to a Standard Times article from a reporter, Curt Brown who has not so good intentions on a story in the first place on Daggett and it seems that he is twisting the story to make it look like Daggett has done something wrong when in fact he has not, I will explain why. I have read the police report. The police can believe whatever they want and the press can try to release whatever they want, but the truth is if they had any solid evidence supporting their claim Daggett would have already been charged with something. It is nearly one year since this incident and still without any solid proof of this from the police there is nothing they can do, which again would make this situation slander.
If they even had him on something as simple as a midemeanor charge of filing a false ploice report they would have at least done that, but thy did not because they never had any solid proof. If Daggett had no so good intentions with the complaint the police would not have been the first people someone would go to when the case would always be worked against you first until proven you did nothing wrong.
furthermore, in this case there are witnesses in the charges with the NCAD including both employees of Toyota, as well as customers. It is not a case of one word against another so to defame somebody will only make the other sides defense look weak. Mention of other cases such as Taco Bell means nothing to a court or to the public now because there wee never any charges issued due to a lack of evidence supporting the police's claims. and furthermore the statement above that he sues everybody is completely untrue, can you provide any documentation proving your allegations? No, you can only refer to an online article about it that means nothing because even they are no longer able to write about it because there is nothing to write about. There are no incidents that you can make mention of with a free and clear conscience that you are 100% right about, because who did Daggett ever sue? How do you even know that he sued anybody? You dont... you are believing what a reporter says to sell a paper or magazine, the same reporters that will write you a story on how a local woman is preganant with Elvis's baby if they were promissed a promotion, a raise, or a reputation/popularity on a high profile case.
MaryCollins is right. The police and press know that by making these comments, it is only going to make phillip daggett look bad to the public, but when it came time for them to back their statements up, they were not able to. If they had any ounce of evidence on a person up against such serious charges they would have acted on this months ago. The case is now cold, out of the publics eye, with the exception of this person in the above comments with an obvious grudge against Daggett, and is harger and harder to prove each passing day, so it seems to me that the police and the press should have been quiet about the case until they had the evidence they needed to move forward, but obviously there is no evidence which means the person (Daggett) legally did nothing wrong.
It is in fact known as slander when someone makes statements about another person that is untrue, however I can see the confusion in this case above where the person leaving the comment, NEDWARD, believes this to be true because of what he has read. It was not fair for him to post anything like this, but it was also not fair for the police to release information like they did and for the media to release it when it was also untrue. It does however seem to me like this person NEDWARD has a serious grudge for some reason against Daggett because he is not a poster or replier to these blogs at anytime before this date. It seems that he is only sitting there looking up stories on Daggett to see where he can get his slanderous words in and I hope that is "Phillip Daggett sues everybody" that he does not see this because it would not be very hard to prove who someone is with the simple tracing of an IP address, email address, or some way which would take only minutes to find out and be able to prove as slander, so I would be careful and hope Phillip never sees this if he suppposedly sues everybody, which you have not proved or backed up your comments in anyway except referring to an artice that is about a year old and if was anything true charges would have been brought forward, but also this article makes no mention of suing everybody, but you sure do. Being in the legal field myself I would know better not to ever make any such comments. If I were you I would seriously take a step back and lose the grudge you have.
I am sure that in this situation Daggett had brought forward, it appears he has a clean cut case, if he is able to have his statements supported by witnesses. In this case it appears that he has witnesses that can do this for him, so I do not understand why anybody would then try to bring down Daggett's name like this person above, I could bet you almost anything that this person is either an owner or upper management person at Toyota, or an Ex-lover of Daggetts, or somebody who once knew of Daggett who is for some reason jealous of the media attention one man can bring in. I must say, more than any other individual without a celebrity status this person has been in the media, however does this make him a bad person or mean that he has done anything wrong? Especially when not one of these cases has been brought against him and proved for making a fraudulent claim.
It is clear that he likes his fame from situations like this, however it is not clear that he is doing anything wrong. It seems that he is involved in more situation than most people and that is why the media is always so hot on him, because it is always something. You have to understand that it is only going to be a matter of time before stories are twisted by the media and people on the internet to try and make someone look bad. WELL PROVE IT ALREADY!
It seems to me that you are trying to make phillip daggett look like a bad person with NO PROOF, but yet here Daggett is presenting a case before the public which he is able to prove. Does not look good to the police or media saying otherwise!
Daggett Vs Police & Bad Reporters:
...and the score is:
Daggett - 2
Police/Bad Reporters - 0
(if Daggett has done something wrong he would not be on this score board like this! He would be in jail.)
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