SEATTLE, June 28 (UPI) -- A state appeals court has revived a lesbian employee's job discrimination suit against the University of Washington.
Debra Loeffelholz, a program manager in the asbestos department, charges she endured a hostile work environment between 2003 and 2006, Seattlepi.com reported. She said James Lukeheart, a supervisor who was later demoted, told her not to "flaunt" her sexuality, made comments about her weight and told others he wanted to fire her.
"I just don't want you to flaunt it. I don't want any of that in my face," Loeffelholz said Lukeheart told her after she was hired.
A lower court ruled last year that Loeffelholz waited too long to sue. But the appeals court said the suit, filed in 2009, was timely because Lukeheart, a U.S. Army Reservist, told employees in 2006 he would return from an Iraq deployment a "very angry man." The court said that the suit was filed within the three-year limit from the date of that remark.
