Joanna Bielawski v. City of Cleveland, et al

Case Summary: 12-cv-1392

Plaintiff Joanna Bielawski, a former Safety Programs Manager at the Cleveland Hopkins Airport (“Airport”), brought a civil rights action against Defendants City of Cleveland; Ricky Smith, Director of the Dept. of Port Control at the Airport; and Jeanette Saunders-Willis, Chief of Administration at the Airport. Plaintiff alleges she was subject to unequal terms and conditions of employment based on her race. Plaintiff is Caucasian, and Defendants are African-American. Plaintiff alleges that while she was working at the Airport, she was treated differently than African-American employees. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants prevented her from attending manager meetings, added to her job duties without Plaintiff’s knowledge, and talked about racial issues at meetings, which made Plaintiff uncomfortable. Plaintiff resigned for such reasons, but decided to reapply to the position after some consideration. By that time, Plaintiff’s position was filled by an African-American.

In this video, Plaintiff and Defendants present their cases to the Court at a jury trial regarding this civil rights action. Plaintiff argues that Defendants subjected her to a hostile work environment and treated her unfairly based on her race. Defendants counter that Plaintiff’s allegations are unfounded, and based only on her subjective feelings towards Jeanette Saunders-Willis. Defendants call several witnesses, all of whom were employees at the Airport, to testify about Defendants' relationships with other employees. The jury finds in favor of Defendants.  

Case Highlights

• Complaint filed 6/4/2012 (Doc #1)
• Answer filed 8/1/2012 (Doc #5)

Case-related documents, including those referenced above, are available via the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) service. For more information, visit Pacer.gov.