Recently it was determined that the Chicopee city council will be asked to fork over $140,000 to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit. The lawsuit itself was filed by Nicholle Huber back in 2016 in the U.S. District Court and claimed “she was hired to repair and maintain city vehicles only to have that offer rescinded four days later because of her gender.” The city and the “supervisor of the central maintenance garage,” Allen Ryczek, were named in the suit.
Recently it was determined that the Chicopee city council will be asked to fork over $140,000 to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit. The lawsuit itself was filed by Nicholle Huber back in 2016 in the U.S. District Court and claimed “she was hired to repair and maintain city vehicles only to have that offer rescinded four days later because of her gender.” The city and the “supervisor of the central maintenance garage,” Allen Ryczek, were named in the suit.
The city council is actually meeting later today and is expected to be asked to “settle the suit using money in the free cash account, or money unspent from the previous year,” according to the meeting agenda. But what happened, exactly?
According to the lawsuit, Huber, a certified diesel mechanic, “applied for the position and was interviewed twice by panels of employees including Department of Public Works Superintendent Jeffrey Neece and Human Resources Director Raisa Riggott, who has since retired.” During the interview process Huber was not only told she was the most qualified applicant, but that she was the only applicant “who had experience working on construction equipment,” according to the lawsuit.
However, one of the requirements mentioned in the job description was that Huber would have to be able to lift 100 pounds. During the interview process, Huber, who clocks in around 98 pounds, was allegedly told “the requirement was not a necessity and it was not a big deal.”
At the conclusion of the interview process, Huber was offered the position, which was set to pay $20.40 per hour. The only condition was that she had to pass a physical exam. Wasting no time, Huber took and passed the exam, “which called for her to lift 50-pound weights three times.” Everything seemed to be going well and on March 18, Riggot told Huber she “could give her current employer two weeks notice that she had found a new job,” so Huber did.
However, things went south when the job offer was rescinded four days later. According to the lawsuit:
“Ms. Riggott contacted Ms. Huber to inform her that there had been a lot of discussion regarding her employment and that the city had decided to instead hire someone who could lift 100 pounds on a regular basis.”
Though she was offered an opportunity to take the physical exam again to demonstrate that she could indeed lift 100 pounds, Huber “declined in writing, saying she was told that she would not have to lift the weight.” Not long after, Huber teamed up with a lawyer, Nathan A. Olin, who managed to obtain emails from city employees that revealed “there were concerns about hiring Huber because of her gender.” For example, in one email, “Ryczek wrote that he believed Huber was the most qualified candidate but he was afraid to hire her because she was a woman and he was afraid of a sexual harassment lawsuit.” As a result of his concerns, he allegedly met with the city’s mayor “to push for the 100-pound requirement to be followed.”
Other emails revealed garage employees “joking about preparing to protect themselves from sexual harassment allegations when ‘the girl’ begins working in the garage.”
In response to the lawsuit, lawyers for the city pushed back against the claim that Huber “was told the requirement to lift 100 pounds was not an essential duty and qualification of the job.” In addition, they denied all the allegations found in the emails.
Sources:
Chicopee City Council asked to settle gender discrimination lawsuit for $140,000
Chicopee City Council Meeting Agenda and Minutes: May 1, 2018
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