Former LOFS employee's lawsuit says he was fired for owning a gun

October 07, 2014 8:30 pm • Sarah Reese sarah.reese@nwi.com, (219) 933-3351

Nino Ferlaino, who worked as a seasonal landscaping employee at LOFS for 21 years, says in a lawsuit filed Monday in Lake Circuit Court that he was confronted by a supervisor two days after he told co-workers he is a gun owner.

The supervisor, Doug Weiss, on July 2 asked Ferlaino if it was true he carried a gun, the lawsuit says. Ferlaino claims he replied he owned a gun but did not carry it on him at work.

Weiss told Ferlaino that Weiss had met with the property owners association's board of directors July 1 and that Ferlaino's conversation with his co-workers violated the company's "no tolerance policy," the lawsuit says. Ferlaino says he was fired July 2.

A message left Tuesday seeking comment on the lawsuit from the Lakes of the Four Seasons Property Owners Association Inc. was not immediately returned. Emails to the president and vice president of the association's board also went unanswered Tuesday night.

The association violated Indiana's "take your gun to work law," which was amended in 2011, because it required Ferlaino to divulge information about owing a gun and fired him because he's a gun owner, Ferlaino's attorney, Marissa McDermott, said in an email.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/crown-point/former-lofs-employee-s-lawsuit-says-he-was-fired-for/article_2748e456-3de6-50c2-acc7-a72cf42bf6fd.html