This time of year, many employers in Sacramento are throwing year-end or holiday parties for their employees. But recently, two employees of a California auto parts supplier claimed that such parties were anything but pleasant for them -- in fact, they allege such parties were used as a basis for harassment and discrimination.

The two men, who are employees of AutoNation, recently filed their employment law claims in Placer County Court in Roseville. They allege that AutoNation managers and other employees would host off-work parties at adult entertainment clubs and brothels and then would ridicule the two men for not participating. The man say they told their supervisors and coworkers that they would prefer to focus on work, but their requests to focus on the task at hand went ignored.

The man say their refusal to participate in these off-site parties and other activities, including drinking and drug use, cost them consideration for future promotions and eventually their jobs, since they were fired shortly after refusing to attend such a party. The men are also claiming sexual harassment, since they were referred to using derogatory terms for gay men. They are seeking punitive damages.

AutoNation has not issued a public response to the employees' suit.

If what the men say is true, then it sounds like their work environment was hostile and inhospitable. No one in California (or anywhere, as a matter of fact) should be made to feel humiliated and belittled at work, and it should go without saying that it is improper to condition employment status on things like attending strip clubs.

Source: Courthouse News Service, "Strip Clubs Were Part of the Job," Tish Kraft, Dec. 13, 2011