Delivery Guy, Forced To Deliver Porn Mags, Sues

TOPEKA, Kan.—You knew it had to happen, right? After all the lawsuits from The Religious about how they don't want to bake cakes, make flower arrangements or take pictures at same-sex weddings, much less provide wedding venues or sign off on their marriage licenses, it was only a matter of time until someone sued for being required to touch sexually explicit magazines. The plaintiff is one James Scott Sr., a long-time employee of, first, Anderson News since 2004, and then Cowley Distributing after it bought Anderson in 2009. Scott claims he had an agreement with Anderson's management that he wouldn't be required to handle the various adult magazines that the company had contracted to deliver to newsstands and shops in the Kansas City area, and that he could have one special day off per year to "attend an annual religious convention." But when Cowley bought the company, according to Scott, it told him that the agreement he'd supposedly had was no longer valid. Despite his apparent protests, Scott nevertheless did deliver the porn for at least six years—until March 31 of this year, when Scott was "called into a disciplinary meeting and was written up for workplace violations," at least one of which was his apparently having taken a company car, equipped with GPS, to a "Memorial Observation" (which he described as "equivalent to Easter") without permission. Scott says he then met with the company's general manager and fleet manager in early June, after Scott had drawn up a "24 page grievance" in April, to try to reinstate his agreement with Anderson not to deliver the porn and to get his special day off. The company refused, saying his agreement with Anderson was "null and void." Then things got even more bizarre. "In the June 2016 meeting with the GM and FM, I addressed an object that reminded me of a noose that was locked around my GPS system," Scott's self-written complaint (he's representing himself) states. "I related how the object reminded me of the lynching of my mother's uncle and the picture that was put on my high school locker of two black men being hung while people pointed and laughed and the Caucasian student who called me the n word. I asked that it be removed. "In my strongly worded grievance, regarding the lock around my GPS device, I used the words: Abominable, Atrocious, Cuff-like, Deplorable, Disparate, Egregious, Illegal, Negative, and Shackle-like," he added. [Emphasis in original complaint] Supposedly the lock had been put on Scott's GPS device because it had "allegedly came loose," but according to Scott's complaint, it was actually a Caucasian driver's GPS that had come loose, but he was merely "given a courtesy call" and no lock was put on his GPS. Of course, one might suspect that the lock was put on Scott's GPS to make sure he didn't go to any more "Memorial Observations" without permission, but to Scott's mind, it was just another example of racism and/or religious discrimination—as was his having been turned down for a promotion at the company. Scott also reported hearing racial comments from both management and fellow employees. In any case, Count II of the complaint, "Religious Discrimination," is all about Scott's having been "threatened with termination if I attended my Religious Convention," which resulted in his not attending it in 2009, though he stated that, "The most important yearly event for our organization is the death of Christ and I was written up partly for going to the Memorial during my work time," not to mention, "Since Cowley has taken over, I was made to deliver pornography despite my complaints." "Defendant's actions set forth above constitute an intentional pattern and practice of discrimination based on Plaintiff's religion," the complaint states, adding, "As a direct and proximate result of Defendant's unlawful acts, Plaintiff has suffered damages including, but not limited to, economic losses, emotional and mental distress." Scott's complaint was filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas on December 23, and so far, no one has filed an appearance for Cowley, so it's unclear when the complaint will be heard in court—but somehow, it wouldn't be surprising if some religio-conservative legal organization like Liberty Counsel (which represents several religious "refuseniks"), or the similar Alliance Defending Freedom, offers its services to Scott pro bono.