Opinion ID: 20144
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 Martineau began working at ARCO in 1976, and by 1996 he served as a lab supervisor in ARCO's Pasadena, Texas, chemical plant. ARCO contends that in 1996 employees and supervisors complained about Martineau's behavior which included cursing, yelling, slamming doors, and creating an unpleasant work environment. Martineau's supervisor, Eric Kolodziej (Kolodziej), counseled him regarding this behavior, and ARCO arranged for Martineau to attend an interpersonal skills class. 3 ARCO claims that complaints continued regarding Martineau's behavior. In September 1996, Lisa Sweeney (Sweeney) filed a harassment complaint with ARCO accusing Martineau of giving her sexually suggestive poems, attempting to continually contact her at home, and starring at her at work. In response to these complaints, ARCO transferred Martineau to a non-supervisory role and prohibited him from all non-work-related contact with Sweeney. However, Martineau continued to call Sweeney at home, including one call, which registered on Sweeney's caller identification at 11:48 p.m. She again complained to ARCO. Martineau gave excuses for thecalls, and ARCO gave Martineau the benefit of the doubt. Nevertheless, he continued to call Sweeney and to visit her at work. 4 By late 1996, ARCO terminated Martineau for violating company policy and for violating ARCO's instructions not to contact Sweeney. When Martineau appealed his termination to ARCO, he did not claim he was fired because of his national origin; rather, he accused ARCO of conspiring against him, and he accused the phone company of falsifying Sweeney's telephone records. 5 Martineau claims that ARCO employees continually discriminated against him because he is Canadian. Martineau suggests that in 1976 ARCO employees began making offensive comments regarding his national origin, including calling him dumb Canadian and foreigner. Although he filed numerous complaints with ARCO, management ignored him. Martineau asserts the abuse became worse when Kolodziej became his supervisor. Kolodziej apparently demanded Martineau's green card and demanded to know why Martineau had not become a U.S. citizen even though he had been in the United States for 20 years. As for his relationship with Sweeney, Martineau contends that she viewed him as a father figure who gave her advice and provided loans to purchase a home. Sweeney then conned Martineau out of this money. When Martineau demanded reimbursement, Sweeney began to accuse him of harassment.