Lake County News-Sun |

Office of U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider says it has taken corrective action in response to hostile work environment accusation

After a Zion woman doing constituent services work for the office of U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Deerfield, sued the office in July for allegedly operating a hostile work environment, the congressman’s office claims its remedial actions negate plaintiff Patrice Campbell’s claims.

Schneider’s office filed its answer to Campbell’s complaint Monday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia showing what is says was appropriate action taken after Campbell, who is Black, complained of discrimination and racially insensitive remarks by her supervisor.

Campbell, a constituent services representative in Schneider’s office, filed her suit July 14 in part over incidents March 3 and 4 in which her supervisor, then Casework Director Karyn Davidman, made racially insensitive remarks referring to lynching, according to the complaint.

Campbell said in the complaint Davidman referred to a lanyard as a rope on March 3. She told Campbell she would have to “put it around her neck.” Campbell told Davidman the remark was insensitive because it was a reference to “lynching” and to refrain from such comments in the future.

The following day, Davidman repeated the story about the lanyard to members of Schneider’s staff in a video conference, referring to it again as a rope, according to the complaint. Schneider was not present during the meeting, it said.

Though Campbell said in her complaint, “Davidman was not disciplined for her conduct, but was given a week off using paid administrative leave,” Schneider’s office said in its response the discipline was more severe. Davidman was suspended for a week without pay, it said, and there was more.

“The office removed Ms. Davidman’s responsibilities for managing plaintiff’s casework on March 5, 2021,” the office said in the response. “There (has) been no direct work related interaction between plaintiff and Ms. Davidman since March 8.”

Along with no longer supervising Campbell, Schneider’s office said in its response Davidman was not involved, “managing any of the office’s casework operations and was reassigned to the position of special projects director July 22.”

Since Campbell was given a new boss and the other disciplinary measures were taken against Davidman, the office believes its actions were, “appropriate and corrective action in response to the … rope lanyard comment,” according to the response.

The tone changed after Campbell hired an attorney, according to the response from Schneider’s office.

“Prior to retaining counsel, (Campbell) had never raised any concerns to management about alleged discrimination, hostile work environment or retaliation other than the lanyard/rope comment,” it said.

In her complaint, Campbell said she was the only Black employee working for Schneider’s office. The office denied that allegation in its answer.

Schneider’s office also denies in its response Campbell’s claims in her complaint that her authority to post on the office’s Facebook page was removed, Davidman continued to assign work through an intermediary, and she was given more tasks than she could handle, according to Campbell’s complaint.

In addition to rejecting many of Campbell’s allegations, Schneider’s office said in its response that its actions, “were all based on legitimate non-discriminate … non retaliatory reasons” and they are not discriminatory. Its actions were all taken in “good faith.”

In an email, Schneider’s office reiterated its effort to take corrective measures, and said in a statement there are two sides to the story. The office claims the allegations in the complaint are neither complete nor accurate.

“The Office of Rep. Brad Schneider is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to his staff members without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, religion, disability, genetic information, or military status,” the statement reads.

“The Office is confident that it will be exonerated in due course once all the facts are known.”

Attempts to reach Leslie D. Alderman III, Campbell’s attorney, were unsuccessful.