March 2024 - Parks and Recreation - 29

made discriminatory statements toward him. FC allegedly
showed Plaintiff a picture of a noose on his
phone, told him " white people stick together " and stated
his " [coworkers] were going to hang " Plaintiff. After
this incident, Plaintiff claimed his coworkers began
regularly making comments that they would hang him.
The following year, in the summer of 2019, Plaintiff
claimed FC again showed him a noose on his phone
and told him that " white employees 'hang [racial slur]'
in the creek bed.' "
Plaintiff stated he complained about FC's repeated
display of a noose on his phone and threats to hang
him. In August of 2019, Plaintiff said he had complained
to his supervisors FT and LW that " these kinds
of comments were racist, but they ignored me and
nothing changed. "
Plaintiff also stated his coworkers made antisemitic
remarks to him. Specifically, Plaintiff stated that another
coworker, " RI, " told him in 2016 that " black jews
don't matter, blue lives matter " and also made " derogatory
comments " about his faith. In addition, Plaintiff
stated members of his crew knew of his Jewish faith
and would make " numerous hateful and humiliating
Anti-Jewish comments and jokes " toward him.
According to Plaintiff, he had " complained about a
dozen times of race and religious discrimination to his
supervisors. " Plaintiff's crew chief " PS " testified that
Plaintiff complained to him roughly a dozen times that
he was not being treated as well as others by his supervisors
because of his race. PS, however, testified that,
to his knowledge, he did not know of any times that
Plaintiff complained about racist or antisemitic comments
to his supervisors or anyone at the Village. Supervisors
LW and FT concurred that " Plaintiff did not
complain to his supervisors about racial or religious
discrimination at any point during his employment. "
Village Complaint Process
The Village had a written complaint process for its employees.
Plaintiff attended several training sessions that
outlined the Village's Policy Against Discrimination
and Harassment. According to this process, a complainant
is instructed to " contact his or her supervisor
or a Harassment Committee Member listed in section
10 of this Policy, or Village Clerk, or Human Resources
official. " There was no requirement that a complaint to
a supervisor be made in writing. Plaintiff, however, did
not complain to human resources at any point.
Disciplinary Record
During his employment, Plaintiff had received verbal and
written warnings for disciplinary infractions in the form
of an employee counseling form signed by one of his supervisors.
Plaintiff received an employee counseling form
on July 24, 2018, for " abusive time off for leaving early
on eight days in 2018. " In addition, Plaintiff received an
employee counseling form on July 30, 2018, for failing to
appear for his scheduled shift for that day and for calling
in late to inform his employer that he would not be present.
Plaintiff also received an employee counseling form
for failing to report to work on April 26, 2019.
Plaintiff claimed no other employees were disciplined
for the same types of offenses and that other employees
were rarely disciplined at all. When asked at his deposition
if he ever observed any white employees written up
at work, crew chief PS, who identifies as a white man,
responded, " [N]obody gets written up besides me and
[Plaintiff] Achee. "
In addition, PS testified that he believed supervisor LW
PW Athletic has been providing top-tier Site
Furnishings & Sports Equipment to schools,
municipalities, and park districts since 1919.
Scan our QR code and see what we can do for you!
866 - 460- 5276 | www. PWATHLETI C . com
PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G | MARCH 2 0 2 4 | Parks & Recreation
29
http://pwathletic.com
March 2024 - Parks and Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2024 - Parks and Recreation
