Opinion ID: 2774672
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Discrimination

Text: On October 1, 2010, Miller arrived at Sparx to begin his morning shift. A coworker told him to look at the kitchen cooler. When he did, he discovered a defaced dollar bill. The dollar bill depicted a noose around President Washington’s neck with a swastika on his forehead and a darkened area on his cheek. Adjacent to President Washington’s head was a hooded Klansman on horseback with “KKK” sketched on his hood. A separate picture of the late Gary Coleman—a No. 14-1660 3 famous African-American child actor—was posted on the cooler below the dollar bill. Miller asked a coworker to take a photo of the display, and then he lodged a complaint. Kitchen manager Evan Openshaw and kitchen supervisor Chris Jarmuzek took responsibility for the display. Openshaw said he posted the picture of Gary Coleman, while Jarmuzek said he posted the defaced dollar bill. The restaurant’s general manager testified that the posting of the racist dollar bill qualified as a termination-worthy offense. Yet, for whatever reason, Jarmuzek was not terminated; he was only given a warning. Openshaw was not disciplined at all. Soon after Miller’s complaint, Openshaw and Jarmuzek began to criticize Miller’s work performance. He had received no such complaints before. Sparx fired Miller on October 23, 2010. Less than two years later, Sparx closed its doors when Hospitality dissolved. In its stead emerged Holdings, a second company that did business as a Denny’s Restaurant. Both Hospitality and Holdings operated their restaurants in a building owned by Properties, a third company. Importantly, all three companies were owned by Chris Brekken. But we’ll return to that fact later.