Employee Presented Sufficient Evidence Of Retaliation

Steven Lang, an African-American, began working for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in 1994, serving as both a child welfare specialist and a case manager. After five years of favorable performance reviews, he was promoted in May 1999 to the position of child protective investigator. Lang was assigned to a team supervised by Karen Beckelman and was one of six investigators who handled cases involving severe child neglect and abuse. The responsibilities of members of this team include handling emergency "mandates," which are orders to locate an endangered child and remove him or her from danger within 24 hours. Because of the urgent nature of these mandates, the office must be able to contact team members on short notice. In September 1999 Lang, a union steward, filed a grievance on behalf of the African-American members of his team (including himself) claiming that DCFS was hindering their ability to perform their duties because it had issued cell phones to the white members of the team but not to the black members.

That same month, Lang's performance reviews changed for the worse. On September 14, a supervisor, Susan Smith, orally reprimanded him for failing to complete a case within 60 days. On September 20, Lang was absent from work, and his supervisors recorded this as an unauthorized absence (UA) on his timesheet. Lang, however, had used authorized leave that day, and when he alerted his supervisors to this fact, they removed the UA. Lang was again given a UA on November 10. But Lang had been at work on that day, and Smith corrected his timesheet when he notified her of the error.

Lang took "family responsibility" leave from December 1999 until February 7, 2000. When he returned, his problems with his supervisors resumed immediately. On February 8, Beckelman reported to her supervisor, Mary Ellen Eads, that Lang's itinerary for that day showed only a single case visit between 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., but that his timesheet reflected that he had worked until 4:00 p.m. Lang was given another UA. DCFS convened a hearing on February 15 to review Lang's activities on February 8. At the hearing, Lang produced affidavits from his clients that accounted for his whereabouts for the entire day. Once again, the UA was removed from his record.

On the day of the February 15 hearing, Lang filed a charge with the EEOC and the Illinois Department of Human Rights alleging that Beckelman had discriminated against him on the basis of his race. He asserted that Beckelman had refused to approve his requests for overtime pay and a cell phone, and had contacted his clients several times to question his activities. After February 15, the relationship between Beckelman and Lang deteriorated drastically. Beckelman sent Lang over 30 memoranda and e-mails between February and April. These written communications criticized nearly every aspect of Lang's work, including his attendance, the timeliness of his work, his use of time, and the quality of his work product. Beckelman demanded that Lang provide her with detailed itineraries for his days, document his activities, and call her every two hours when he was conducting an investigation out of the office. She also placed him on formal supervision and began reviewing his work on a daily basis. Lang responded in writing to some of these communications, often complaining that Beckelman was being unrealistic in her expectations and that her constant requests for documentation were hampering his ability to perform his duties. He also filed several union grievances. Lang was again given UAs for March 13 and March 16. Like the previous three UAs, the March 13 absence was later resolved and removed from his record. Lang says that he was sick on March 16 and called into the office that day but was unable to reach anyone. DCFS refused to remove the March 16 absence from Lang's record.

The relationship between Beckelman and Lang reached a boiling point when Lang was absent from work the entire week of March 20. Lang's uncle had become seriously ill, and Lang went to Michigan to care for him. Beckelman issued him UAs for the entire week because she says he never called to report his absence. Lang claims that he called Beckelman's office on Monday, but that neither Beckelman nor her secretary answered her phone. Instead Lang reached Theresa Purchase, a co-worker also supervised by Beckelman, and he asked her to tell Beckelman of his emergency. He also called Rick Navarro, a Labor Relations Liaison in the personnel department, to inform him that he expected to be absent all week. Lang produced telephone records showing that he called the phone numbers for both Beckelman and Navarro on March 20. But Beckelman claims that Lang never properly reported his emergency and, on March 22, she sent a certified letter to his home address demanding that he explain his whereabouts since March 20.

Soon after Lang returned, DCFS began disciplinary proceedings against him, which culminated in Lang's termination on July 13 for accumulating six unauthorized absences: March 16 and March 20 through 24.

Lang brought a Title VII action against DCFS, alleging that his termination was in retaliation for filing the administrative race-discrimination charge. The district court granted summary judgment for DCFS. On appeal, the 7th Circuit reversed, holding that the extremely short lapse of time between Lang’s complaints and the negative reviews from his supervisor, the baseless attendance violations, evidence that he was being held to unrealistic standards, and his previous five-year flawless employment record raised the inference of causation.

Lang v. Illinois Dept of Children and Family Services

Read the case

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals’ jurisdiction includes Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

| Return to Newsletter |