A former University of Colorado employee is suing the school for wrongful termination, alleging he was passed over for teaching opportunities because of his race and then fired when he finally was given a teaching job as retribution for reporting the alleged discrimination.

Youssef Moudden filed a suit in U.S. District Court against CU, the board of regents and Chancellor Phil DiStefano for denial of equal protection under the law and breach of contract.

CU released statement on the lawsuit Wednesday.

“The allegations in this case are without merit. We stand by our decisions in this matter. We believe that the university has acted in a fair, legal and equitable manner in this case.”

According to the complaint, Moudden was hired at CU in 2007 as a research associate, but wanted to teach. He first told Cora Randall and John Cassano, of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, of his desire to teach in 2013, when Moudden’s supervisor said he would be a candidate for an opening.

Randall, the chair of the department, and Cassano, who is in charge of hiring, did not consider Moudden for the opening.

In April 2014, Moudden again applied for an opening advertised on CU’s website, and was again passed over. After this, Moudden created an email account under the name Jason McLeif and contacted Cassano with it, saying McLeif was a post-doctorate at Colorado State University and was interested in teaching openings.

In April 2015, Cassano emailed McLeif about a job opening but did not reach out to Moudden. Moudden applied anyway, and was again passed over.

Later that year, Cassano again emailed the McLeif account with a teaching opening but did not inform Moudden of the opening. Moudden applied for this opening as well, but was again passed over. The same thing happened again in May 2016.

When Moudden was passed over for the opportunities he always told his supervisor, Jeffrey Forbes. But according to the complaint, Forbes dismissed the complaints and at one point told him, “If war breaks, I think you’ll be fighting for the other side.”

Rather than report the complaint, Moudden said in the lawsuit that Forbes told Cassano about the fake McLeif identity.

Following that, Cassano hired Moudden, but Moudden alleges the hiring was merely part of “a devious plot to correct the situation to their advantage. The plot includes immediately hiring (Moudden) to teach (Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences)1050 for the fall of 2016, subject him to a very hostile work environment, undermine his performance and reputation and retroactively claim that he was not qualified to teach.”

In the lawsuit, Moudden said Randall and another employee, Melissa Nigro, “engaged in a proactive campaign to undermine (Moudden’s) teaching activities as a lecturer.”

Moudden said Nigro approached a teaching assistant and asked him to “snitch” on Moudden, and Randall summoned Moudden to her office after receiving one email from a student.

The lawsuit said Cassano decided not to hire Moudden again based on complaints from two students out of 320 in his classes, and that he was not informed of subsequent openings and then permanently lost his employment at the school on Dec. 31, 2016.

Moudden made a complaint with the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance. According to that report, Cassano said he initially did not hire Moudden because he was not familiar with the institution, York University in Canada, where Moudden got his degree.

As for the McLeif email, Cassano said he informed that account and not Moudden because he had “filed their email addresses under different directories” and also was more familiar with CSU, where the fictional McLeif worked.

Forbes, Cassano, Randall and Nigro also are named in the lawsuit, which is seeking damages for back pay, emotional distress and punitive damages.

Mitchell Byars: 303-473-1329, byarsm@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/mitchellbyars