Indiana Technician Sues Safelite for Alleged Sex Discrimination Related to Warranty Issue

An Indiana auto glass technician has filed a 

Michael Hill of Fort Wayne, Ind., says he was employed as a Safelite installer for two years and has 18 years' total experience. He claims on July 7, 2009, while he was installing a windshield for a customer, the urethane "extruded onto the VIN plate."

Hill alleges that a customer service representative (CSR), who is only identified as Stacey, "gave [him] a note stating that [he] should go back to clean off the urethane."

When he returned to the job to clean the urethane from the VIN plate, Hill says that he accidentally cut the vehicle's dashboard. Hill says he advised the customer of the damage and advised Stacey, along with the customer, that the windshield would have to be re-installed.

Three days later, on July 10, Hill alleges that he was terminated "for not providing the warrant[y] note to the customer and not going back to fix the problem." He claims that Stacey, the CSR, failed to generate a warranty note for him, but "did not terminate [her], nor any other installers, who are are [sent] to customers' site[s] without warranties."

Hill alleges that his employment was terminated based on his sex and that he also has suffered mental anguish, stress and embarrassment due to the incident.

Hill initially reported his complaint to the Metropolitan Human Relations Commission in May 2011, but the agency dismissed his complaint, citing that there was insufficient evidence and no probable cause found.

Hill initially filed his complaint in the Allen County (Ind.) Superior Court, but it was moved to the U.S. District Court in August.

Safelite officials declined to comment on the case. Safelite's response to the case is due on September 15.