A 27-year-old Las Vegas heavy-equipment operator has taken his former employer to federal court, claiming his job went off a cliff after a coworker mocked his Christian faith, vandalized a Jesus figurine and, he says, triggered a chain of events that ended with his firing. The lawsuit, filed Thursday, accuses Las Vegas Paving Corporation of religious harassment, disability discrimination and retaliation, and seeks compensatory, emotional and punitive damages.
According to The Independent, plaintiff Anthony Spor‑Orellana says a coworker repeatedly mocked his cross necklace and loudly declared that the Bible is “stupid” and that people who believe in it are “believing in fairy tales.” The outlet reports that Spor‑Orellana took the complaints to supervisors and that his attorneys went to court after he received a right-to-sue notice.
What the suit says
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada and available via the court filing, says Spor‑Orellana started working for Las Vegas Paving in December 2022. It states that he went on medical leave for hip replacement surgery in July 2024 and again in December, then returned to the job needing a seat cushion and the ability to shift his position while he worked.
According to the complaint, Spor‑Orellana kept a Jesus figurine in his front-end loader and later found it “mutilated, with its hands and eyes cut off and apparent stab wounds inflicted upon it.” The filing alleges that on October 7, 2025, he was involved in a near-collision with the same coworker, filed a safety complaint about the incident and was fired three days later on what the lawsuit calls a “false and pretextual basis.” The suit says he has suffered physical and emotional injury and is seeking back pay, emotional distress damages, liquidated damages and punitive relief.
Legal context
Federal law prohibits religious harassment and retaliation and generally requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for sincerely held religious practices and for disabilities, unless doing so would create an undue hardship. Guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission explains that employers can be held liable if they do not prevent or promptly correct harassing conduct. The same EEOC and ADA guidance outlines employers’ obligations to engage in the accommodation process for workers with disabilities. Those standards frame the Title VII and disability retaliation claims Spor‑Orellana is bringing…