In its first ruling on the issue, the Connecticut Supreme Court has upheld a hostile work environment claim brought by a gay employee. In its unanimous Friday ruling in Luis Patino vs. Birken Manufacturing Co., the court upheld a jury’s award of $94,500 in punitive damages against the Bloomfield, Conn., firm. Mr. Patino, who had worked at Birken as a machinist from 1977 until his November 2004 termination, said he was subjected to years of derogatory slurs for homosexuals in Spanish, Italian and English.