A federal judge has cleared the way for a high-profile trial this summer over allegations that Black employees at the Chicago Department of Water Management were subjected to years of racist and sexist slurs, including some by politically connected top-level supervisors.
In his 54-page ruling on summary judgment issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly said there was sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find “that the city had a custom or policy of condoning racial harassment and discrimination at (the Water Department) as well as inaction in the face of a risk of potential constitutional violations.”
Kennelly dismissed some of the individual allegations in the lawsuit, and also ruled that the plaintiffs had not shown enough evidence that they were denied promotions because of their race for those claims to go forward. But he allowed the core of the hostile work environment claims to proceed to a jury trial, which is currently set to begin June 5.
The trial is expected to feature a number of current or former high-ranking city officials as witnesses and will shine a harsh light on allegations of unseemly treatment.
Among the allegations by the plaintiffs: Repeated use of the N-word, references to Black employees by supervisors as “you people,” and, in one instance, a foreman who allegedly mocked an African American employee’s skin tone and instructed the employee to stand next to a door “to see if it was painted black.”
The employees alleged that because of their race, they were given less-desirable work assignments, harassed and wrongly suspended or fired in some cases.
Attorney Victor Henderson, who represents the plaintiffs, said in a written statement to the Tribune that the plaintiffs were “grateful” that the case was moving forward, “not just on behalf of themselves but, for every Black person inside and outside of Chicago who wants to be treated fairly irrespective of race and so that they can rightfully claim their piece of the American Dream.”
“Literally hundreds of African American employees in the city’s Water Department have complained, not just for years but, for decades that they were being discriminated against because of race,” Henderson wrote. “Their cries for help fell upon deaf ears from one city administration to the next. The indifference to their pleas was both astounding and disheartening.”
A spokeswoman for the city’s Law Department declined to comment on the pending litigation.
The lawsuit was filed in federal district court in 2017 after a monthslong watchdog probe ferreted out racist and sexist emails shared among department supervisors, prompting then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel to order a leadership shakeup.
In his final report issued in 2018, then city Inspector General Joseph Ferguson recommended that total of seven water department employees be disciplined for their actions in sharing or failing to report racist and sexist emails, which circulated among city employees for at least five years.
Among the communications examined in Ferguson’s investigation were offensive jokes about Barack Obama, the nation’s first black president, which were periodically shared among department employees, including one email with the subject line “Obama Angry with Texas!!”
According to Ferguson’s report, the email states in part: “Obama will be making no more public speeches in Texas. … He claims every time he gets up on stage to make a speech, some South Texas cotton farmers start bidding on him.”
Another email had the subject line “Black NASCAR drivers??” It purported to list reasons “why there are no black NASCAR drivers,” according to the report. They included: “Pistol won’t stay under front seat,” “Engine noise drowns out the rap music,” “They keep trying to carjack Dale Earnhardt Jr.”
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
