Fired for Filing? Local man’s harassment case ends up in termination

[UPDATE: Out Front has tried to reach the management at Kindman Dispensary on numerous occasions regarding their side of the story. We have been, and will continue to be, open to hearing the matter from their perspective. This update serves as another open invitation to shed new light on the issue and we welcome anyone from the business to contact us for comment.]

Jordan Callen was tired of having his sex life put on blast by the woman at work.

He tells Out Front that even before they’d been formally introduced to everyone at his new job at Kindman, a recreational marijuana dispensary, his sexuality was the topic of discussion for the woman he would eventually file a sexual harassment complaint against. Some of his coworkers claim they were pulled in on a conversation that included whispers of homosexuality and confusion over his wedding ring. He tells us he was oblivious to her intrusiveness until the first time she addressed him:

“My husband is cheating on me with a man. I mean, he’s bisexual. Does that turn you on?”

Embarrassed and off-put, he noted the incident in his daily journal under February 3, 2014. This would mark the first of several discomforting encounters with a woman who took great liberties addressing the 28-year-old’s sexual orientation. Five days later, he was unloading safes with her and: “God! F*cking homos are always in the way!” Perhaps jokingly said — or perhaps not — it still didn’t sit well and into the journal it went.

In a later incident, he was called into the office of the store and questioned about his threats against the woman. Caught off guard, he confessed to his manager that he wasn’t sure what exactly she was talking about, and the incident was brushed off, he says, with a simple: “Maybe it’s because you’re gay; she doesn’t like you because you’re gay.” And that was that.

As though infectious, another co-worker caught on that it was seemingly permissible to chide the gay guy at work. “The general manager got a good laugh when another employee called me a fluffer,” he says. “I laughed a little, too, because I didn’t know what it was. Now that I know, it upsets me how inappropriate a remark it was.”

Still frustrated with the actions of the emboldened woman, and hoping something would be done about the behavior at Kindman, Jordan filed an internal complaint against the presumptuous co-worker.

In a Youtube video entitled “Kindman Sexual Harassment,” Jordan is seen hand-delivering the notice of sexual harassment to the manager of Kindman’s human resources department. He asks her if she realizes that it’s against the law for his alleged aggressor to continue working during a sexual harassment investigation.

“If we’re both not allowed here, we’re both not allowed here. You know that?”

“Yeah. Yeah I do,” she replies.

If his aim was a discontinuance of unacceptable behavior, it failed miserably. In fact, Jordan believes it made his situation worse. A short time later, he received an email from the HR department of the company claiming he caused a scene in the store that affected the customers and employees — a claim he vehemently denies. The email served as his official termination letter.

“Every single day, I dealt with these abrasive interactions,” he says, his eyebrows furrowing at the recollection. “It was humiliating. And when I spoke up about it, they found a way to fire me.”

Jordan filed an employee discrimination complaint with the Colorado Department of Human Services, a task he claims Kindman had an obligation to fulfill. “As far as I know, I’m the only one who filed.” The official complaint form he slid across the table to me had four checked boxes: retaliation, harassment/hostile work environment, sexual harassment, and sexual orientation.

Jordan claims that not only was he fired, but his shifts were given to the alleged aggressor. Weeks later, he received a phone call from a man claiming to be an investigator contacted by Kindman to look into a recent string of break-ins and vandalism at the store. Red flags went up for Jordan. “I asked him if he’d contacted anyone else. He said, ‘Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself,’ then hung up. I honestly believe this is just continued harassment because I filed with the state.” He rifles through his folder. “But this is the single-most powerful piece of paper I have,” he said, brandishing a final document. “It’s powerful in the sense that it’s holding me back from housing, medicine, and transportation.”

I have to ask what exactly it is, apart from a few deposit notices printed from an accounting system. “That’s what they gave me when I asked for my pay stubs and W2.” He is visibly frustrated.

“I can’t take this to any financial assistance agency,” he says with urgency. “My fiance has brain cancer and needs chemo and seizure medication — we can’t access any of those without paperwork.” In addition, apartment complexes won’t let him apply without proper documentation and he can’t trade in his car for another without his pay stubs from Kindman. “I’m asked at every turn to prove household income. I need the ability to prove my financial situation to a creditor, which is done with check stubs.”

Jordan claims that attempts to retrieve the items he needs are repeatedly met with resistance. “They had security turn me away when I showed up in person. I’m desperate for the paperwork and have no idea what I’m going to do.”

As of late, Jordan is selling everything he owns to make ends meet, from his aquariums to his car. He hopes that Kindman will supply him not only with the documentation of his former employment with the company, but also a written apology and, with any luck, compensation for the time he’s been out of work for wrongful termination.