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SALT LAKE CITY — A former instructor at Eagle Gate College is suing the school for allegedly discriminating against his employment and benefits because he is married to another male teacher.
Dustin Kennedy is suing the school for back pay, reinstatement or forward pay, and other damages, saying Eagle Gate College management refused spousal benefits to the couple, then fired and refused to rehire Kennedy because of their relationship, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court of Utah.
"Eagle Gate treated Mr. Kennedy differently than employees in similarly situated positions because Eagle Gate perceived Mr. Kennedy as failing to conform to gender-based expectations or norms," the lawsuit states.
Kennedy was hired as an adjunct instructor for Eagle Gate's professional massage and bodywork program in October 2007. Eagle Gate College is a Salt Lake City-based trade school with campuses in Layton, Murray and online.
At the time Kennedy was hired, it was common knowledge in the company that he and Blayne Wiley, the school's program director, had been romantic partners for nine years, the lawsuit states.
However, when Kennedy and Wiley married in October 2008 and Wiley requested spousal benefits for his husband, they were denied and told Kennedy's hiring had violated the school's "romantic relationship policy," the lawsuit states.
"Eagle Gate regularly declined to enforce the romantic relationship policy, allowing employees' spouses to hire and supervise each other in the same or similar capacity as Mr. Wiley and Mr. Kennedy," the lawsuit states.
Eagle Gate College response
Christopher Snow, an attorney representing Eagle Gate College, said Thursday that at the time Kennedy and Wiley had applied for spousal benefits, the school was in compliance with the law because the state at that time did not recognize same-sex marriage.
"At the time Mr. Kennedy requested spousal benefits, the state did not recognize same-gender spouses as legal, even if they were married in another state," Snow said. "Eagle Gate actually requested that its third-party benefit administrator extend benefits to Mr. Kennedy, but we were told that Eagle Gate's benefit plan could only extend to legally married spouses in the state of Utah."
Eagle Gate College is an equal opportunity employer and has voluntarily offered spousal benefits to all spouses, including same-gender spouses, since it switched providers in January 2014, long before Kennedy's lawsuit was filed, Snow said.
Kennedy's hours were then gradually reduced over time until the school fired him in April 2011. Though Eagle Gate College claimed Kennedy had quit, a judge later found the school had terminated him and ordered he be paid unemployment benefits, according to the lawsuit.
Wiley attempted to rehire Kennedy in January 2013, agreeing not to supervise him directly, and school officials seemed supportive until they denied the hiring three days before classes resumed. Wiley again applied for spousal benefits for Kennedy and was again denied, the lawsuit claims.
It was then that Wiley claims Eagle Gate's vice president of human resources told him "that if Mr. Kennedy was a woman, the married couple would receive benefits."
The lawsuit notes that earlier that same semester, a female employee at the school had been allowed to hire and supervise her husband.
