Kevin D. Kraut, of Genola, was employed by Mountain View Hospital in Payson as an information-services technician from 1999 to 2002. Kraut alleges hospital staff began hassling him after learning of his religious affiliation in July 2002 from his father Ogden's obituary, published in The Salt Lake Tribune.

Ogden Kraut considered himself an independent fundamentalist Mormon and was the publisher of some 65 books on his beliefs. His obituary listed eight children by their first names, including Kevin.

A complaint filed in Provo's 4th District Court states that after media coverage of his father's death, the hospital engaged in various acts to "create circumstances" that led to Kraut's termination in October 2002.

"All [subsequent] discipline, censure and warnings were a pretext to discrimination," states the complaint.

Kraut, 42, filed complaints with the hospital before he was fired and then with the U.S. Employment Opportunity Commission afterwards. The commission ruled in his favor, finding that the hospital's "proffered nondiscriminatory reason for terminating [Kraut] does not withstand scrutiny" and that "reasonable cause exists to believe that [Kraut] was terminated because of his religious beliefs."

The commission issued Kraut a "notice of right to sue" in March.