ALLENTOWN – The Easton Area School District is seeking summary judgment to dismiss a lawsuit filed by an ex-varsity high school wrestling coach who alleged he faced discriminatory and racist conduct, including being fired, because he is Black.
Jamarr Billman of Allentown first filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on June 10, 2020 versus Easton Area School District, of Easton.
Billman worked as a wrestling coach for EASD’s junior varsity wrestling team for the 2006-2007, 2007-2008, and 2008-2009 school years. In June 2016, Billman was hired by defendant EASD as its head wrestling coach to coach its varsity wrestling team.
“Soon after Coach Billman was hired and repeatedly throughout Coach Billman’s employment, defendant EASD’s Athletic Director, James Pokrivsak, Jr., proudly identified himself as racist, and made a mockery of it. Also, defendant EASD’s Assistant Football Coach, Joe McIntyre, who is white and the parent of an EASD wrestler, cornered Billman and told him that he has no respect for him,” the suit stated.
Though Billman reported his concerns of Coach McIntyre’s harassment towards him to members of defendant EASD’s Administration, it failed to investigate his reports, the lawsuit claimed.
Billman said he was also provided much less money for his athletic program budget than other coaches who are white, was paid less than his fellow coaches who are white, and was also threatened with bodily harm and labeled the n-word by the irate grandfather of a white wrestler who was disqualified from participating in a wrestling tournament.
“On March 16, 2018, two days after Billman received a notice of termination, one of defendant EASD’s Assistant Superintendents, Alyssa Emili, who is now also serving as the Director of Human Resources, attended a ‘Fire Billman Party,’ together with the wrestler who did not make weight, the wrestler’s grandfather who had choked Coach Billman and called him a ‘n—r’, and his father,” the suit alleged.
However, Billman was not terminated at that time. But, he alleged that he continued to have parents of certain white wrestlers complain and threaten him, and because of his being black, received no protection or assistance from the district in the process.
He also accused the district of pressuring his supervisor Elaine Arnts, the Assistant Athletic Director, to change her original positive assessment and evaluation of Billman into a negative one to satisfy district officials.
After receiving a highly unfavorable performance review in May, counsel for Billman reached out to counsel for the district to see if they would resolve the plaintiff’s claims before going to court.
Subsequently, the district fired Billman, which he claimed is retaliation for notifying it of his intention to file a lawsuit.
The district filed a motion to dismiss certain counts from Billman’s suit on Aug. 10, leading him to file an amended complaint on Aug. 24 without calling for punitive damages.
The district claimed that Billman’s allegations relating to alleged discriminatory acts under the PHRA and Title VII are time-barred, since they occurred more than 300 days before Billman dual-filed a charge of discrimination.
UPDATE
The district moved for summary judgment on March 26 seeking dismissal of all four counts of Billman’s lawsuit with prejudice, believing that the plaintiff failed to meet the burden-shifting framework for discrimination claims, set forth in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green.
“Although plaintiff took testimony on the fact that his contract was non-renewed in 2018, the record evidence shows that he was reinstated within one week. Such being the case, his non-renewal cannot be considered an adverse employment action. The season was over and he lost no wages,” per the summary judgment motion.
“Moreover, he cannot show that the District had a racially discriminatory policy in favor of Caucasians with respect to non-renewals of African American coaches because Kerry Myers testified that he had an entire coaching staff fired because they were ‘lily white’ and those coaches were immediately fired, and then subsequently reinstated. Consequently, although Myers’ comments and decisions were an attempt to create racial diversity among his coaching staff, the 2018 non-renewal was motivated by the wrestling community’s devastation at having its would-be medalist disqualified for weight. That was not a race-based decision.”
According to the District, the plaintiff showed no differentiation in the manner in which the policies are enforced on the basis of a protected class.
“And plaintiff has no evidence, otherwise, to support that claim. Nor has plaintiff procured evidence to show that the policies were enforced in a discriminatory manner. The support given to plaintiff by many in the District probably weighs against every other coach at the District. Stated differently, the administration gave much more support to plaintiff than to any other coach regardless of race,” the motion stated, among other rationales seeking to dismiss the case.
For counts of race-based discrimination, harassment and retaliation under Title VII and the PHRA, plus another federal civil rights violation, the plaintiff is seeking back pay, front pay, compensatory damages, attorney’s fees and any other relief the Court deems proper, plus a trial by jury.
The plaintiff is represented by John S. Harrison and Erika A. Farkas of Broughal & DeVito, in Bethlehem.
The defendant is represented by Sharon M. O’Donnell of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, in Camp Hill.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 5:20-cv-02730
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com