‘Gender neutral’ employee quits, then sues former bosses for $518,000 because they called her ‘lady’
PORTLAND, OR , February 11, 2014– A Portland catering company is being sued for $518,000 by a former employee who alleges her coworkers would not stop referring to her as a woman even after she asked them to stop, reports The Oregonian . Valeria Jones, the lawsuit’s plaintiff, identifies herself as “gender neutral,” according to the suit. When she applied to work at the Bon Appetit Management Company , a corporate catering service , she says she purposely left the boxes beside “male” and female” on the application form unchecked, but the company never mentioned the omission. Jones claims her coworkers repeatedly referred to her as “miss,” “lady,” and “little lady” even after she told them she believes she is “not a female or a male” and asked them to use gender neutral words when speaking to or about her. According to the suit, her coworkers failed to do so, insisting that she “looked like a woman” and comparing her to a female celebrity whom they believed looked similar