A federal agency is suing David Chevrolet Pontiac Buick on the basis that the car dealership created a sexually hostile work environment in which two female workers were forced to quit and one male employee was fired. A civil suit filed Tuesday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges several actions by employees of the Wheatfield dealership since at least 2005 that violate the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1991.

The lawsuit alleges that two saleswomen were subjected to pornography and other sexually inappropriate Web sites on company computers, sexual advances and comments. One of the women was accused by a co-worker of performing sexual favors to create sales, while the other woman was called Blondie almost daily by her sales manager and repeatedly leered at by him. (The women) complained about the harassing conduct, but no action was taken, the lawsuit reads.

Conditions deteriorated to the point where (the women felt they) had no choice but to quit. The man in the lawsuit was subjected to frequent harassment based on stereotypes of how men should look and act, the suit alleges. The man s general manager is accused of using gay slurs against him when he had highlights put in his hair, calling him Gay Jay almost daily and setting up a derogatory work e-mail account for him, benzaisgay@hotmail.com, referring to a nickname the GM had for the man.

The general manager also is accused of asking whether the man enjoyed having homosexual intercourse or sex with animals. This case reminds us that sexual harassment can take many forms, including male on male, said Markus Penzel, a senior trial attorney in the EEOC s Boston office. The EEOC will continue to ensure that women as well as men are protected from this cruel form of abuse. Dealership owner Joe Smith called the charged mudslinging by disgruntled ex-employees.