HOUSTON – Matthew Venghaus, of Humble, alleges in a federal lawsuit against NRG Energy, Inc. that his termination from the company for supposedly having a side plumbing job was a retaliatory act.
Recent Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas records show that Venghaus initiated the litigation on Feb. 25.
According to the plaintiff, NRG subjected him to a hostile work environment following a late summer 2016 incident in which a homeowner purportedly masturbated in front of him. Venghaus reported the incident to NRG and requested that it was kept in confidence to no avail, court papers say.
The suit further states that “many managers and employees knew about the incident and began teasing the plaintiff and making sexually suggestive and offensive comments to” him.
Nearly six months after the incident, the customer allegedly went to the complainant’s residence, to which the original petition says the defendant also failed to address. The accusations of engaging in side plumbing work in violation of company policy arose in early 2017.
Consequently, Venghaus seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
He is represented by the law firm Rosenberg & Sprovach in Houston.
Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas Case No. 4:19-CV-0657