Shakman v. Democratic Organization

920 F. Supp. 2d 881, 2013 WL 329042, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11881
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJanuary 29, 2013
DocketCase No. 69 C 2145
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 920 F. Supp. 2d 881 (Shakman v. Democratic Organization) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shakman v. Democratic Organization, 920 F. Supp. 2d 881, 2013 WL 329042, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11881 (N.D. Ill. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER1

SIDNEY I. SCHENKIER, United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter is before the Court upon the motion of the post-Supplemental Relief Order Complaint Administrator, Mark Vogel, to compel the testimony of Doris Gershon (“Motion to Compel”) (doc. # 3036). For the reasons set forth below, the Court grants the Motion to Compel.

I.

In 1972, Defendant Cook County (the “County”) entered into a consent decree, which prohibited the County from “conditioning, basing or knowingly prejudicing or affecting any term or aspect of governmental employment, with respect to one who is at the time already a governmental employee, upon or because of any political reason or factor.” Shakman v. Democratic Org. of Cook County, 481 F.Supp. 1315, 1358 (N.D.Ill.1979), vacated sub nom., Shakman v. Dunne, 829 F.2d 1387 (7th Cir.1987). In 1994, the County entered into a subsequent consent decree that incorporated the 1972 consent decree’s prohibitions and extended those prohibitions to include the County’s hiring practices (see doc. # 587 at 5). On February 2, 2007, the Honorable Wayne R. Andersen entered a Supplemental Relief Order (“SRO”), which included a procedure for administering complaints of unlawful political discrimination in Cook County employment in violation of the consent decrees or the SRO (Id.). Similar consent decrees and a supplemental relief order were entered regarding the Cook County Forest Preserve District (the “Forest Preserve”) (see doc. # 1010: January 14, 2009, Supplemental Relief Order (“FPD-SRO”)), as well as to various other governmental entities which are defendants in the Shakman litigation. We focus here on the orders pertaining to the County and the Forest Preserve.

The consent decrees and the supplemental relief orders created a network of individuals and entities assigned various responsibilities for ensuring that the County and the Forest Preserve meet their obligations to eschew unlawful political discrimination in employment practices. We [885]*885do not attempt a comprehensive catalog of this network; we highlight only those individuals and entities relevant to the present dispute.

The SRO governing the County established a “Shakman Compliance Administrator,” now known as the Cook County Compliance Administrator (“CCA”), charged with ensuring future compliance with the County’s consent decrees (doc. # 531). Among other things, the CCA was empowered to review the County’s hiring practices, assist in establishing training programs on non-political hiring, adjudicate claims based on pre-SRO violations, and assist in proposing a new hiring plan (Id.). The FPD-SRO created a similar position — the District Compliance Administrator for the Forest Preserve District (“DCA”) with similar authority (doc. # 1010).

The SROs governing the County and the Forest Preserve also created a procedure whereby individuals could lodge complaints alleging political discrimination that they claim occurred after entry of the SROs. The SROs specified that the County Inspector General’s Office (“IGO”), or another individual selected by the Court, would administer the complaint procedure (doc. # 587 at 22-31).2 If the plaintiffs objected to the individual serving as the Inspector General discharging that function under the SRO, they could suggest that another individual or entity be appointed to administer the complaint procedures (doc. # 587 at 22 n. 1). The plaintiffs did object, and in 2009, Judge Andersen appointed Mark Vogel as post-SRO Complaint Administrator (“CA”) for the County and the Forest Preserve (docs. ## 1024, 1025).3 The Court charged the CA with investigating and reporting complaints of unlawful political discrimination in County employment (doc. #587 at 11-16; doc. #1025). To accomplish this task, the Court empowered the CA to issue subpoenas and “to take testimony to the same extent as a lawyer for a party in discovery proceedings in civil litigation” (doc. # 1025 at 3).

II.

We now turn to the dispute that is the subject of the present motion. Doris Gershon worked for more than 25 years in the Human Resources Department for Cook County (“HR”) (doc. # 3116: Response To Post-SRO Complaint Administrator’s Motion to Compel Testimony of Doris Gershon (“Resp. Br.”) at 8). Most recently, she served as Deputy Chief of HR. In carrying out their Shakman decree and SRO duties, in 2009 and 2010, various officials interviewed Ms. Gershon about areas within her knowledge and expertise: hiring practices and procedures of Cook County. On March 5, July 15, August 19, and August 24 of 2009, the CCA and her staff interviewed Ms. Gershon, and she answered questions regarding her HR duties, including “hiring and the hiring [886]*886process (including screening, eligibility lists, job descriptions, requests to hire, and testing); onboarding; reclassifications; layoffs; recalls; desk audits; salary increases; and evaluation of a hiring process” (doc. # 3036: Post-SRO Complaint Administrator’s Motion to Compel Testimony of Doris Gershon (“CA’s Br.”) at 14).

On May 18, 2010, the CA’s Office interviewed Ms. Gershon, and she answered questions regarding “the job application system, Taleo, and department interaction with HR regarding hiring, union positions, requests to hire and promotions” (Id. at 14-15). On September 14, 2010, the OIIG interviewed Ms. Gershon. At that meeting, she was represented by the State’s Attorney’s Office, and she answered questions regarding “improper manipulation of the Shakman Exempt List” and “other employment matters such as her duties, maintenance of personnel files, and the creation of job positions” (Id. at 14). On October 20, 2010, the DCA interviewed Ms. Gershon regarding “the hiring processes of the FPD” (Id.). She was again represented by the State’s Attorney’s Office and answered questions regarding “hiring, posting of job positions, accepting applications, screening, eligibility lists, interviews, hiring decisions, documentation, policies and procedures, recalls, staff and specific position postings” (Id.).

In addition, Ms. Gershon, in her capacity as Deputy Director of HR, was called to testify at two Cook County Employee Appeals Board hearings during 2010. At those hearings, Ms. Gershon answered questions under oath regarding “the Shakman Exempt List and the employment and termination of two allegedly Shakman exempt employees” (CA’s Br. at 15).

Mr. Vogel, in his role as CA, subpoenaed Ms. Gershon, who is no longer employed by Cook County, for a deposition on March 6, 2012 (CA’s Br. at 2).4 The CA sought to gather information about County employment practices, policies, and facts relevant to complaint investigations he was conducting (Id.). At the March 6, 2012 deposition, Ms. Gershon’s attorney, Raymond Pijon, advised attorneys from the CA’s office that Ms. Gershon had received a grant of immunity on February 5, 2007, for her grand jury testimony regarding hiring practices in Cook County, and that she intended to exercise her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and refuse to answer any related questions (Id., Ex. 1 at 8). The deposition proceeded, and Ms. Gershon declined to answer nearly every question, asserting the Fifth Amendment (Id.) Consequently, the CA elected to continue the deposition on a later date.

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Bluebook (online)
920 F. Supp. 2d 881, 2013 WL 329042, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11881, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shakman-v-democratic-organization-ilnd-2013.