O'Neal v. Illinois Human Rights Comm'n

2021 IL App (1st) 200772-U
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 2, 2021
Docket1-20-0772
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2021 IL App (1st) 200772-U (O'Neal v. Illinois Human Rights Comm'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
O'Neal v. Illinois Human Rights Comm'n, 2021 IL App (1st) 200772-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

2021 IL App (1st) 200772-U

No. 1-20-0772

Order filed March 2, 2021.

Second Division

NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). ______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________ MARVIN O’NEAL, ) Petition for Direct ) Administrative Review of a Petitioner-Appellant, ) Decision of the Illinois Human ) Rights Commission. v. ) ) THE ILLINOIS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION; ) Charge No. 2019 CF 0016 THE ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS; ) and DISTRICT 132 CALUMET PARK, ) ) Respondents-Appellees. )

JUSTICE LAVIN delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Pucinski and Cobbs concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶1 Held: The decision of the Illinois Human Rights Commission sustaining the Illinois Department of Human Rights’ dismissal of petitioner’s charge of discrimination and retaliation based on a lack of substantial evidence is affirmed.

¶2 Petitioner Marvin O’Neal appeals pro se from a final decision of the Illinois Human Rights

Commission (Commission) sustaining the Illinois Department of Human Rights’ (Department) No. 1-20-0772

dismissal of his charge of discrimination and retaliation for lack of substantial evidence. For the

reasons that follow, we affirm.

¶3 On July 9, 2018, petitioner filed a pro se charge of discrimination and retaliation with the

Department. In the charge, petitioner alleged that School District 132 Calumet Park (District 132)

discriminated against him by discharging him from employment on March 21, 2018, due to his

“skin color, light complexioned” (Count A), due to his “race, black” (Count B), and in retaliation

for having complained about unlawful discrimination in the workplace (Count C).1 Petitioner

alleged that similarly-situated “dark skinned” and “non-black” employees were not discharged

under similar circumstances. He further alleged that his discharge occurred two months after he

had complained to the principal and the dean of students that he felt District 132 was discriminating

against him because of the color of his skin.

¶4 The Department investigated the charge. According to the investigator’s report, petitioner

stated that he was hired by District 132 as a substitute teacher in March 2006 and later became a

paraprofessional. In December 2017, his daughter, who attended one of the schools in District 132,

reported she was not able to participate in her gym class. Petitioner emailed Nicole Orseno, a gym

teacher at the school, inquiring about the situation. Three days later, Orseno responded that

petitioner should talk with a different gym teacher, Cody Anderson. Anderson emailed petitioner

“later” and explained why petitioner’s daughter was told to sit out of class. Petitioner was never

able to meet with either gym teacher.

1 In the charge, petitioner stated that he was discharged on March 2, 2018. However, this appears to be a typographical error, as the evidence reflects he was discharged on March 21, 2018.

-2- No. 1-20-0772

¶5 Petitioner stated that on January 9, 2018, he and his mother met with the school principal,

Dalyn Drown, and the dean of students, Dale Rowlett. Petitioner requested that Orseno be present,

but Drown told him, “I will not put her in front of you.” Petitioner stated that Drown was “trying

to save his own skin,” and Drown responded that the incident was out of his hands and petitioner

would need to speak with the school board. Petitioner told Drown that “this” was happening

because he was being stereotyped as a black man that is a drug dealer and gang member. Petitioner

told the investigator that nothing came out of the meeting.

¶6 Petitioner stated that in March 2018, he accepted a substitute teaching job with District 132

for a Tuesday the following week. On the Friday before he was to work, he went to the school to

get his ID. There, he saw a Spanish teacher, Meghan Crocello. Petitioner asked Crocello about the

schedule and whether anything had changed at the school. Crocello told petitioner that she would

help him out. Later, Crocello called and told petitioner “that his name was taken off the list.”

Petitioner believed that Orseno had told Crocello “something about him.”

¶7 Petitioner told the investigator that between January and March of 2018, he was never told

he could not work for District 132. In March 2018, he received an email from Nancy Munoz,

Human Resources Director for District 132, indicating that he was removed from the list of

substitute teachers because he was unprofessional in his emails with Orseno. That same month,

petitioner had a meeting with Elizabeth Reynolds, Superintendent, to find out why he was taken

off the list. Reynolds told him the reason was “inappropriate communication.” On March 25, 2019,

petitioner received a certified letter that included a no trespass notice and indicated criminal

charges could be taken against him.

-3- No. 1-20-0772

¶8 Petitioner stated that he believed he was discharged because of his skin color and race,

since District 132 “looked at him as a threat.” Petitioner told the investigator he had no

comparatives. He stated he was discharged because Orseno falsely accused him of threatening her.

He believed District 132 was protecting Orseno because the district had high turnover and trouble

keeping gym teachers.

¶9 Queen O’Neal, petitioner’s mother, told the investigator that at the January 9, 2018,

meeting, she asked why Orseno was “attacking her granddaughter by saying she has a behavior

issue.” She and petitioner also asked why Orseno was not at the meeting. Drown answered that

teachers do not have to go to meetings. O’Neal stated that when petitioner received notice that he

was being dismissed for inappropriate behavior, she requested an appointment with Reynolds.

Again, Orseno was not at the meeting.

¶ 10 Nancy Munoz, Human Resources Director for District 132, told the investigator that

petitioner was hired as a substitute teacher in 2006. He later became a paraprofessional. He

resigned from that role in 2016, but remained a substitute teacher. Petitioner received the District

132 handbook on policies and procedures when he was hired, had received satisfactory

performance evaluations as a paraprofessional from the principal, and had only had discipline for

attendance. In the year before his termination, petitioner had accepted a total of five assignments.

According to Munoz, petitioner had been offered hundreds of other assignments, but did not accept

them.

¶ 11 Munoz stated that on March 1, 2018, Orseno went to the principal’s office at Burr Oak

School distraught and upset because petitioner had accepted a substitute position at that building.

Orseno gave Munoz copies of correspondence and described interactions between herself and

-4- No. 1-20-0772

petitioner that began shortly after August 22, 2017, when petitioner accepted his first assignment

of the school year. On August 23, 2017, petitioner emailed Orseno, stating that he was a substitute

teacher and parent. He wrote that he saw her in the gym and requested to talk to her about how his

daughter is in real life. Orseno emailed a response to petitioner the same day, stating that Anderson

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2021 IL App (1st) 200772-U, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oneal-v-illinois-human-rights-commn-illappct-2021.