June 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 27

ship skills, self-management skills,
and programming. The plan further
noted that Plaintiff's " continued
employment with the district
was in jeopardy " and the Park
District " needed to see significant
improvement " for Plaintiff to
" keep her job. "
Plaintiff's
supervisor
testified
that Plaintiff subsequently " righted
the ship and completed the
Performance Improvement Plan. "
There was no evidence of any additional
problems in the few years
that followed.
In November 2012, Plaintiff began
reporting to the performing
arts manager at the Prisco facility.
In September 2015, the performing
arts manager issued Plaintiff her
second corrective discipline form
for submitting " paperwork for staff
evaluations and pay raises
months late. " The form described
" Corrective Action " needed to be
taken by Plaintiff; i.e., " adhere to
timelines in place for staff evaluations
and raises. "
Plaintiff disagreed with the
accuracy of information on this
second corrective discipline form.
Plaintiff claimed she had turned
in the staff paperwork on time because
her instructors " were paid
and received their raises differently
than other employees of the
Park District. " Moreover, Plaintiff
noted these particular employees
" had not finished out the calendar
year for the dance session. "
Further, Plaintiff claimed her late
paperwork had been " acceptable
every year except this one. "
The corrective discipline form
included
an
" Employee
Response "
section, which asked:
" Do you agree with the description
and the action? If not, please
explain. " Plaintiff admitted she
had left this Employee Response
section blank and had not explained
her position on the corrective
discipline
form
itself.
Plaintiff, however, did claim that
she had verbally objected to the
performing arts manager before
signing and dating the form.
four
Younger Supervisor
Language
In April 2017, a new 37-year-old
facility manager came to Prisco.
Plaintiff alleged her new supervisor
discriminated against older employees,
using words and phrases
like " stale, " " stagnant, " " not up to
the task " or " not able to handle "
when referring to older employees.
In addition, Plaintiff claimed
this supervisor used phrases, like
" keep everything fresh, " " we need
new " and " push for innovation. "
According to Plaintiff, her supervisor
" used words like this at a staff
meeting " and " she directed it towards
older employees and humiliated
them. "
The new supervisor admitted she
used these phrases and similar language,
but argued her purpose was
not age discrimination.
Instead,
the supervisor said she used phrases,
like " keep things fresh, " to refer
to innovation and staff creativity,
and used words, like " stagnant, "
to refer to the current programming.
As described by the supervisor,
she would use this language
to ask: " What more can we do to
create revenue and increase participation? "
Plaintiff, however, characterized
her supervisor's language
as " ageist. " Two other employees
indicated they had heard the supervisor
use similar language with
older employees.
Program Registration
Software
In 2017, the Marketing Department's
timelines for the activity
guides required recreation supervisors,
including Plaintiff, to enter all
programs into RecTrac by February
9, 2017. RecTrac is a software
platform that allowed members of
the public to see offerings from the
Park District and register online.
" Plaintiff alleged her new
supervisor discriminated
against older employees, using
words and phrases like 'stale,'
'stagnant,' 'not up to the task'
or 'not able to handle' when
referring to older employees. "
Plaintiff did not enter the room
reservation information for the
dance programs by the
deadline.
Instead,
Plaintiff
claimed,
" [T]here
was no deadline for the
dance room reservations, " and she
had had " a longstanding practice
of waiting until later in the season
to reserve dance rooms. " After
missing the deadline, Plaintiff told
her supervisors that she would " begin
following the Marketing Department's
deadlines in the future. "
When Summer Registration Day
for the park activities arrived, some
of the information for the dance
programs was incorrect in RecTrac,
including the ages for two
dance classes. As a result, residents
had difficulty registering for dance
classes due to an inaccurate program
entry in RecTrac, which included
incorrect age levels, inactive
classes and fees that were different
from the printed activity guide.
PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G | JUNE 2 0 22 | Parks & Recreation
27
June 2022 - Parks & Recreation

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