Former GlasWeld President Files $800,000 Wrongful Discharge Suit
August 9, 2011

Former GlasWeld president Mike Boyle has filed a suit against the company alleging that he was wrongfully discharged from employment in August 2009. The suit, which was filed in the Deschutes County (Ore.) Circuit Court on August 1, also alleges that the company’s ownership discriminated against him and others during his 4-year tenure.

Boyle claims the alleged discrimination was based on his religious beliefs. For example, Boyle alleges he was told “to act as though he [was] a Jehovah’s Witness” and that he was “once chastised” for including an image of the Pope in a presentation about going green.

Boyle further alleges that GlasWeld ownership once “refused to hire a marketing person on the basis that the applicant was gay.” Boyle says he objected to the practice, but “the company refused to correct or address [the] decision.”

Boyle says his disagreements with the company came to a head in August 2009, when he says GlasWeld “told him he had to resign or he would be fired, leaving him no reasonable alternative but to quit.” He says company officials advised him the termination was based on “poor performance,” according to the complaint.

The complaint further alleges that Boyle was told he had improperly built two products, but he claims this allegation was negated when the company issued a press release shortly after his release saying “he was instrumental in guiding the research and development of new glass repair technology … ”

He seeks damages totaling $800,000.

Boyle, who is representing himself in the case, filed the complaint on August 1 in the Deschutes County Circuit Court.

GlasWeld general manager Dennis Garbutt declined to comment.

“Only after we have received a legally recorded document, legally served, which we can review in detail, we will comment," he says.

At press time, Boyle faces criminal charges. He pleaded not guilty to charges of theft in July, and a trial is scheduled for this November.

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