Sheila Brown has filed a lawsuit against her former employer, alleging severe racial discrimination and harassment. On September 30, 2024, Sheila Brown lodged a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The complaint outlines allegations of race-based discrimination, harassment, and retaliation under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The narrative unfolds with Sheila Brown's employment at Northwestern Memorial Hospital as an Environmental Service Technician beginning on September 7, 2021. She claims that despite meeting or exceeding performance expectations, she faced different terms and conditions compared to her non-African American colleagues. The situation escalated on November 28, 2023, when a co-worker allegedly began harassing her due to her race. This harassment reportedly included throwing a pen at Brown and using racial slurs in subsequent incidents. Despite reporting these events to supervisors and the hospital's Human Resources department, no corrective action was taken.
Brown recounts multiple incidents where she felt targeted because of her race. On one occasion in April 2024, she describes how a colleague aggressively drove towards her car in the hospital parking garage. In another instance on May 7, 2024, during a meeting with supervisors Kevin O’Connor and David (LNU), the same colleague allegedly bumped into her intentionally. Despite corroboration from other co-workers and video evidence supporting Brown's claims about these incidents, no disciplinary actions were taken against the alleged perpetrator.
The complaint details how Brown's attempts to seek redress through internal channels were met with indifference or outright dismissal. Her termination on May 15, 2024, following an incident where she expressed frustration over continued harassment by stating she would defend herself if touched again by the colleague in question, is portrayed as retaliatory rather than justified.
In seeking justice through this lawsuit, Sheila Brown requests various forms of relief from the court. These include back pay and benefits lost due to her termination, compensatory damages for emotional distress and pain suffered during this period of alleged discrimination and harassment, as well as punitive damages aimed at penalizing Northwestern Memorial Hospital for its conduct.
Representing Sheila Brown is attorney Mohammed O. Badwan from Sulaiman Law Group Ltd., while no information about attorneys representing Northwestern Memorial Hospital is provided in this document. The case is presided over by judges whose names are not mentioned here but can be identified through Case No. 1:24-cv-09140.