DUNEDIN, Fla. — For most of his life, Andy Stein wanted a job in professional baseball. Last year, he thought he had found the perfect one in Dunedin.
“An opportunity was available with the Toronto Blue Jays organization, and I jumped on it,” Stein said. “It was seemingly a perfect fit.”
Stein worked as a clubhouse manager for the Dunedin Blue Jays, a single-A minor league team for Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays.
“I was the go-to guy. Whatever the players needed — the coaches needed,” Stein explained.
According to Stein, things changed shortly into his stint with the team because — as a new lawsuit claims — he was “subjected to unwelcome and pervasive sexual harassment” from a front office manager.
“How confident are you that what you experienced was harassment that rose to the level of being fireable?” ABC Action News asked Stein.
“Beyond a shadow of a doubt,” he answered.
In the new lawsuit, filed May 3 in Pinellas County, Stein claims the male manager made inappropriate comments that crossed the line between “locker room talk” and harassment.
The suit claims the manager also made multiple unwanted sexual advances, even though Stein said no and reported the behavior to human resources.
“It’s perfectly fine to joke around with your colleagues and have a good camaraderie and have a team — a family-type environment — but when somebody says no, it’s very clear what that means,” Stein said.
The suit also claims that Stein was fired by the manager responsible for the harassment just two days after he said no to one of the manager’s unwanted sexual advances.
According to the lawsuit, the manager attributed Stein’s firing to being a “toxic” employee.
Stein, however, said he is “100% confident” he was fired for reporting the harassment.
He also said the assertion that he is “toxic” has “blacklisted” him from landing other baseball jobs since his firing.
“He wants to continue working in the major leagues. He wants to make sure that no one else suffers this sexual misconduct in the workplace, and really, that’s the main focus of the case,” explained Stein’s attorney, Jay Lechner.
Lechner said he is ready to fight for Stein in court if that’s required. He also said multiple witnesses are prepared to take the stand.
“So many people have reached out already,” he said.
The manager alleged to have done the harassment is still with the team, according to its website. He did not provide a comment when contacted by ABC Action News.
The Toronto Blue Jays did not release an official statement but said it does not comment on unresolved legal matters.
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