Madison County Circuit Judge Sarah Smith deemed moot motions to dismiss a former Metro East Sanitary District employee’s lawsuit and granted the plaintiff’s motion to file an amended complaint alleging he was terminated due to political affiliation and denied rehire due to his age.
At an April 1 hearing, Smith entered an order finding the motions to dismiss moot and gave the defendants 30 days to respond to the amended complaint filed by plaintiff Otto Dunham.
Dunham filed his amended complaint through attorney Brian Wendler of Wendler & Zinzilieta PC in Edwardsville. The suit was filed against Madison County Chairman Kurt Prenzler, Steve Adler, Scott Oney, Rick Fancher, Metro East Sanitary District (MESD) and Granite City.
According to the amended complaint, Prenzler was elected Chairman of the Madison County Board in 2016 and was responsible for appointing certain department heads to manage county offices, including the officers of MESD. When he took office in 2017, he appointed Adler as executive director and Doug Hulme as MESD board chairman while also serving as president of MESD. Hulme is not named a defendant in the suit.
On July 28, 2017, Adler allegedly laid off eight MESD employees, including Dunham. The plaintiff claims his termination was based on political affiliations. Adler allegedly hired part-time employees to fill the vacant positions “in direct violation of the MESD contract with its employees.”
Dunahm claims a union grievance was filed by the laid off employees. They allegedly prevailed, “thereby making clear MESD’s act of laying off workers to replace with part-time workers was improper.”
The suit alleges Prenzler informed Granite City that the laid off employees had dropped or abandoned their claim while attempting to withhold the paperwork needed to calculate the payments owed.
Then in January 2020, a new law was passed allowing Granite City to take control of MESD. Fancher replaced Adler as executive director and Oney replaced Hulme as president of MESD. Oney also served as building inspector for Granite City.
Dunham alleges Fancher previously promised him that “as soon as a new law was passed that would permit the city of Granite City take control of MESD plaintiff would get his job back at MESD.”
On Jan. 15, 2020, Dunham alleges Fancher called him to his office and said that when he informed Oney that the plaintiff was to be rehired, he allegedly replied, “Are you sure you want to hire a 64 year old guy?” Fancher allegedly affirmed that Dunham was a “very good and knowledgeable worker,” the suit states.
On Jan. 30, 2020, Fancher allegedly told Dunham he would begin working again on Feb. 17, 2020, and a prerequisite pre-employment drug test was scheduled.
However, on Jan. 14, 2020, Fancher allegedly told Dunham that the MESD board decided to move his start date back to April 1, 2020.
When he still had not been called back to work by May 29, 2020, Dunham claims he inquired about his position. He was allegedly informed that he would not be returning to work at MESD on June 3, 2020.
Dunham claims he had accepted but then declined a job with another company because Fancher had promised and assured him he had gotten the job. .
“Plaintiff relied on such promise,” the suit states. “Plaintiff’s reliance was justified and reasonable. Plaintiff lost the other job to his detriment.”
He seeks a judgment in excess of $50,000 for each count, plus costs.
Prenzler, Adler, Oney, Fancher and Metro East Sanitary District previously sought dismissal arguing that Dunham’s breach of contract claim fails because Illinois law allows an employee to be terminated at any time for any reason.
They also argued that Dunham had not exhausted the administrative procedures under the Human Rights Act before filing the lawsuit. Dunham’s charge of discrimination with the Illinois Department of Human Rights was filed on Oct. 21 and remains ongoing.
Prenzler also filed an individual motion to dismiss arguing that the complaint attaches no liability to him.
“Plaintiff does not allege factual involvement by Chairman Prenzler,” the motion stated. “The only acts plaintiff alleges with respect to Chairman Prenzler while MESD was under Madison County control is that he appointed co-defendant Adler to a position of leadership within MESD prior to Granite City assuming control.”
Prenzler also argued that Dunham’s claims that he interfered with the payment of the grievance claim fail because they do not stem from a protected act. Specifically, Dunham alleges Prenzler interfered as retaliation for losing control of MESD.
“As a matter of law, Chairman Prenzler could not ‘retaliate’ against plaintiff for events in which plaintiff did not participate,” the motion stated.
According to a memorandum in support of Prenzler’s motion to dismiss, Prenzler argued that the “transfer of MESD from Madison County to Granite City Control was a legal and political event that had nothing to do with plaintiff.”
Madison County Circuit Court case number 20-L-1545