A federal judge has dismissed the lawsuit of a white man who claimed Lurie Children’s Hospital allowed him to be harassed and ridiculed over his race, heterosexuality and conservative political views and then fired him for complaining about the conditions.
In January 2022, former maintenance engineer David Leffler sued Lurie, alleging verbal abuse from coworkers, one in particular whom Leffler identified as a “homosexual male.” Leffler said he told administrators of being harassed by this colleague, and being subjected to “inappropriate sexually-charged insults and comments.”
According to the complaint, conflict with coworkers typically centered on Leffler’s political and religious beliefs, and display of what he called “patriotic” decals and other pro-American symbols, including a “Betsy Ross Flag,” which coworkers allegedly derided as a symbol “associated with slavery.” The complaint notes the hospital ordered Leffler to remove that flag from his workspace. He also alleged being anonymously reported to administration for allegedly “aggressively” discussing recent firearms purchases with a coworker, including accusations that Leffler “was compiling a ‘kill list,’” potentially including coworkers.
In an opinion filed March 6, U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow agreed to dismiss the complaint.
Lefkow said Leffler organized his complaint into five counts under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act: race discrimination, hostile work environment based on race, sexual orientation discrimination, hostile work environment based on sexual orientation and retaliation.
“Leffler seems to be saying that African American and LGBTQ employees were allowed to display symbols of their group identity, but he was not,” Lefkow wrote, referencing pride flags and Black Lives Matter buttons, among other items. “This prohibition, however, was not materially adverse, i.e., not a change in the terms and conditions of employment more disruptive than a mere inconvenience.”
She further explained Leffler’s complaint said he was “permitted to continue working without incident” after complaining about one colleague and failed to show how his employers took any action adverse to him specifically in order to support the discrimination claims. She also said the complaint didn’t show a link between the termination and a homosexual colleague’s remarks.
“The court cannot reasonably infer that terminating an employee because he displays political symbols that the employer finds offensive is tantamount to acting against him based on his race,” Lefkow wrote, especially given the hospital’s contention it gave several warnings to remove the materials.
Responding to the hostile work environment claims, Lurie said Leffler’s allegations didn’t suggest severe or pervasive conduct sufficient to establish employer liability. Lefkow agreed the complaint fell short of showing the hospital supporting one race more than others or corporately harassing Leffler individually. She further said the individual statements colleagues allegedly made don’t make Lurie liable. Concerning requests to remove decals allegedly associated with militia groups and "white supremacy," Lefkow noted Title VII contains no protections for political speech.
Lurie also argued Leffler’s hostile work environment claims were improper owing to his failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The hospital said the lawsuit’s claims were outside the scope of Leffler’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint and rely on conduct that took place more than 300 days before he filed that charge. Lefkow agreed, and also said the complaint doesn’t sufficiently connect his complaint to superiors to his termination perhaps a year later.
Leffler has been represented by attorney Marc P. Trent, of Schaumburg. He has until March 27 to file an amended complaint, if he wishes to try again to continue his case.
Lurie is represented by attorneys Brian Stolzenbach and Sharilee K. Smentek, of Seyfarth Shaw, of Chicago.