A former employee of the Kansas City- St. Joseph Catholic diocesan archives is suing the diocese for firing him after complaining about sexual harassment. Sexual harassment attorneys define this as retaliation.
The lawsuit filed by Larry Probst this week alleges that he was subjected to sexually offensive language, unwanted sexual advances and pornography on the computers at work.
Probst, worked for the diocese intermittently from 2000. He became an assistant for the Rev. Michael Cleman, an archivist for the diocese, in 2007.
Coleman befriended man hired to do data entry. According to Probst’s lawsuit Coleman and the man would make sexual comments about another priest in his company. Probst also stated the man made sexual advances towards him and left sexually explicit emails on the diocese computers.
Probst told Coleman about the emails but Coleman seemed more concerned about deleting the emails to protect the man instead of reprimand him.
Probst went to officials for the diocese to report the harassment but they took no action. He was ostracized by co-workers and was eventually let go because they said there was not enough funding for his position. The diocese then hired a less-qualified person to replace Probst.
A sexual harassment lawyer can be an ally when supervisors do not take steps to stop harassment.
Probst is seeking damages for sexual harassment, retaliation and sex discrimination. Harassed employees may be eligible for compensation when they hire an accomplished sexual harassment attorney.
