A jury has issued a $100,000 verdict against the Springfield Urban League, ruling that the organization discriminated against a former Head Start teacher who lost her job in 2010.
Jamie Schnitker, who worked at Head Start programs in Jacksonville, said that she was terminated after 13 years with the Urban League because she is white and because she objected to and did not participate in prayer meetings at work.
In court papers, Schnitker says that she had more experience and education than other teachers who were recalled to work in 2010 after all Head Start employees were laid off for the summer.
“Investigation will show that respondent recalled black teachers and other personnel who had less seniority and less education pursuant to job function and duties,” Schnitker wrote in a 2010 complaint to the Illinois Department of Human Rights.
The state dismissed the case, ruling in 2011 that Schnitker didn’t have sufficient evidence to support allegations of discrimination on the basis of race and religion. A Sangamon County jury disagreed, however, and issued a $100,000 verdict against the Urban League last Friday after a weeklong trial. Schnitker could not be reached for comment.
“She was grateful, and she cried,” said Colleen Lawless, Schnitker’s attorney. “I think the verdict was fair and just for my client.”
The jury’s verdict covered compensatory for emotional distress, Lawless said. And the Urban League might have to pay even more money.
“We’ll be petitioning for attorney fees as well as lost wages,” Lawless said.
Lillie Jasper, chief operations officer for the Urban League, said that the case isn’t over despite the verdict. Reading from a prepared statement, Jasper noted that the state had dismissed Schnitker’s claim. She also said that Schnitker was terminated for cause and that the National Labor Relations Board dismissed an unfair labor charge.
“The Springfield Urban League disagrees with the jury’s verdict,” Jasper said. “While the Springfield Urban League respects the legal process, the agency is examining its options for further action. Civil rights and justice remain our first and foremost concern.”
Schnitker in court documents says that she was told that she was fired due to unprofessional conduct. In a written answer to Schnitker’s lawsuit, the Urban League says that the former teacher raised her voice and used profane language in the presence of children and threw a telephone at a receptionist when she asked about her job status during a visit to agency offices in Springfield in 2010, after she and other employees had received layoff notices due to funding uncertainties.
In court documents, Schnitker said that she had always received above-average job evaluations during her tenure at the Urban League. In court records and her complaint to the state, Schnitker said that she and two other white employees who also lost their jobs had complained about employees engaging in Bible study during work hours. One of the other employees has sued the Urban League in Morgan County Circuit Court. The case is pending.
In her state complaint, Schnitker said that Ann Burries, a supervisor, organized and participated in prayer meetings while at work. Schnitker in court documents says that her relationship with Burries soured in early 2010, after she refused to put fliers advertising a block party sponsored by Burries’ church in student backpacks.
Schnitker in court records said that Burries, who is married to the pastor of the House of Worship, a Pentecostal church in Jacksonville, said that black employees and members of the House of Worship congregation received preferential treatment on the job, and Schnitker said that she complained about it. Schnitker also said that she complained about blacks and members of Burries’ church being hired instead of people who were better qualified.
Burries in a deposition denied doing anything wrong, but she also said that she had heard comments from employees over the years about disparate treatment.
“I mean, the staff had made comments – down through my 22 years – statements saying that sometimes I think that you allow the blacks to get away with more,” Burries testified, according to a deposition transcript. “And this is an overall staff meeting. And I said ‘In what way? Can you tell me that?’ I said ‘Because if you feel that, then it needs to be corrected,’ but I really don’t feel I have ever done that.”
During the deposition, Burries said that she had been the target of racial comments in the workplace.
“The white females were racist toward me,” Burries testified. “They would comment ‘I don’t have to do what she sits there and tell me, she ain’t my – I’m telling you these are the comments that were stated I heard. ‘She’s not my mama. She don’t tell me what to do.’”
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Jul 23-29, 2015.
