Oakland Mall in Troy, Michigan, recently found itself at the center of a lawsuit. The suit was filed by a former security worker, David Niewolak, after he was allegedly “fired for refusing to enforce discriminatory policies, including racially profiling customers.” Niewolak was hired on as a lead dispatcher with Prudential Security for the mall back in 2015. Prior to being terminated in June, he had no “negative write-ups” or anything else on his record that would result in his sudden termination, according to the suit.
Oakland Mall in Troy, Michigan, recently found itself at the center of a lawsuit. The suit was filed by a former security worker, David Niewolak, after he was allegedly “fired for refusing to enforce discriminatory policies, including racially profiling customers.” Niewolak was hired on as a lead dispatcher with Prudential Security for the mall back in 2015. Prior to being terminated in June, he had no “negative write-ups” or anything else on his record that would result in his sudden termination, according to the suit.
According to Niewolak’s complaint, his managers, who were all white, required him to “engage in unethical, immoral and illegal acts” that involved targeting minorities.” Some of these acts included approaching or following African-Americans, especially men, who were walking in “groups of three or more.” He was also often required to ask African-American men “that looked suspicious to produce identification upon entry to the mall and answer questions about what stores they intended on going to.”
In addition, Niewolak claims in his suit that “white managers called the baton and flashlights that security guards carried (n-word) beating sticks.” To make matters worse, “black women were not allowed to breastfeed and Arab men faced extra scrutiny.” On top of that, the suit alleges that “mall management also had a policy which required the prompt removal of persons with disabilities from the food court since they were considered ‘offensive’ to other visitors.”
Throughout his employment, he often objected to his manager’s directives and claims in his suit that the toxic environment began to affect his health. According to his complaint, when he returned to work “after heart bypass surgery recovery, he was ridiculed, belittled, teased and subjected to retaliatory treatment stemming from his disability and leave of absence.” The suit further states:
“The mall management told Plaintiff it would have been better if he died at the hospital than return to work. They also refused to allow him to take his post-operative medications at work, as well as insulin injections, which Plaintiff had to go into the mall garage to take.”
Eventually, Niewolak stopped listening to his manager’s directives because he was strongly opposed to the discriminatory policies. As a result, he was fired on June 6 “without any legitimate business reasons.” Shortly after, he reached out to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and filed a discrimination charge.
So far Prudential Security officials and CBRE, the company that manages the mall, have yet to respond to requests for comment. However, Niewolak’s lawyers noted that his firing was likely “related to him opposing violations of laws including the state Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights, Equal Public Accommodations and Ethnic Intimidation acts.” The added:
“During his employment with Defendants, Plaintiff was regularly requested to engage in, conspire, direct, or allow harassing and discriminatory conduct against mall customers/shoppers, because of their race, ethnicity, sexual preference and/or disabilities.”
Thomas Warnicke, the lead attorney in the case, chimed in and said:
“Such conduct as alleged in the complaint is deplorable, immoral, unethical and illegal and must be stopped immediately. The purpose of bringing the lawsuit certainly transcends any monetary claims. It’s more about treating everybody equally in social and public settings.”
Sources:
Lawsuit claims Oakland Mall profiled, discriminated against shoppers
Fired Security Worker’s Lawsuit Alleges Bias Against Certain Oakland Mall Shoppers
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