Sacked ‘because I’m gay’

A GAY man claims he was sacked days after telling managers at a billion-dollar car retailer he was taking medicine to prevent HIV.

The South Australian man claims his boss a told him not to try to “sleep with” male clients, that a co-worker said his voice was “too flamboyant to be around customers” and that another colleague said to him, “I don’t care if you’re gay, just don’t do it near me.”

Darcy, 19, who does not want his surname used, has made a complaint of sexual orientation and age discrimination against the nation’s second-largest motor dealer group A. P. Eagers.

It is currently before an employment tribunal after being referred by an equal opportunity commissioner.

Darcy told News Corp Aus- tralia he was speaking out to bring attention to homophobia in the industry.

“I don’t want to air my dirty laundry but what do I stand for if I say nothing?” Darcy said.

Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, AP Eagers has a value of about $1.3 billion.

It sells 240 cars a day and has more than 4000 employees nationally.

Darcy began working for one of its Adelaide-based businesses in April 2017, just after turning 18. His job was to arrange finance for car buyers.

“I felt I wasn’t accepted and that the company didn’t care for equality,” Darcy said in his complaint.

An A.P. Eagers spokesman said he could not respond to the specific accusations Darcy had made other than to say, “It’s been fully investigated and there is no evidence of any discrimination at all.”