Jan. 07--A DuPage County deputy is accusing Sheriff John Zaruba and members of his administration of discriminating against him because he is black.
Copres Carr filed a 15-page federal lawsuit against DuPage County and named Zaruba, Chief James Kruse, Maj. Anthony Romanelli, Sgt. James Williams and Sgt. Jack Dellinger as defendants.
Carr, 42, of Plainfield, is asking the court to order the defendants to promote him, and while court documents show Carr is seeking about $6 million in damages, he said he doesn't want a specific amount.
"The money's up in the air; I had to put something down," he said. "This is more about principle than about money, by far. By far."
The alleged discrimination against Carr, who said he has been an employee with the department for almost 19 years, began in March 2013 and carried on through 2015, according to the suit. Carr, who works in court security, filed the lawsuit without an attorney.
Zaruba was not immediately available for comment. Chief James Kruse said he would not comment because he is a named defendant in the suit.
"I don't want to make an unintentional statement that could compromise the judicial process," Kruse said.
Paul Darrah, a spokesman for DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin, who represents the county and Zaruba, said Berlin is aware of the lawsuit and has read it but prefers not to comment.
The lawsuit is the most recent of several federal lawsuits filed against Zaruba and his office. In late 2013, seven veteran DuPage County deputies alleged Zaruba tried to wreck their careers for unionizing and refusing to support the sheriff politically. The case is ongoing. Earlier that year, a federal jury returned a $1 million verdict for a deputy who alleged Zaruba unfairly passed her up for a promotion because of politics.
Carr's lawsuit alleges that the sheriff's department made him oblige by unorthodox orders and rules, prevented him from promotion, and gave him "unrealistic, unattainable goals to prevent him from achieving higher scores on evaluations, advancement and promotions within the DuPage County Sheriff Department."
The lawsuit alleges Carr was given a negative evaluation by Dellinger, who conducted the review after he'd been assigned to the courthouse for just five weeks. Carr and Dellinger only interacted a few times within those five weeks, according to the suit.
"Sgt. Dellinger had predetermined Deputy Carr's job performance and abilities based on assumptions and stereotypes, not based on Deputy Carr's job performance," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit says Dellinger also ordered Carr to go to the doctor's office to obtain a medical note for a skin condition common among African Americans, which already was medically documented within Carr's employee personnel file. Dellinger demanded Carr either receive an additional doctor's note or face disciplinary action. Carr asked Dellinger for department documentation mandating the second note but never received such documentation, according to the suit.
Carr obtained a second doctor's note, which cost him sick time and an out-of-pocket expense for the doctor's visit, according to the suit.
The lawsuit also alleges that Carr, who was qualified as a unit training officer, received a poor score in a separate evaluation, which kept him from taking a test to qualify as a sergeant. The lawsuit alleges administrators predetermined Carr's job performance based on his race. It further alleges that Carr was reprimanded and given unjustified citations after voicing concerns about his treatment.
On Sept. 30, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sent Carr a "notice of right to sue," which gave him permission to file a lawsuit based on the commission's investigation, according to court documents.
The commission requires that employees seeking a federal discrimination charge file within 180 days of the incident, and work for an employer with 15 or more employees, said Joseph Olivares, the commission's spokesman. The agency received 31,073 charges claiming racial discrimination in 2014, he said.
meltagouri@tribune.com
