Former Sheboygan city director sues, claiming he faced harassment and discrimination that led him to quit

SHEBOYGAN – Sheboygan's former director of Planning and Development is suing the city and five city officials for claims he faced harassment and discrimination for being a "white heterosexual male" that led him to quit.

Chad Pelishek, who resigned from his role in March after a 16-year career with the City of Sheboygan's Department of Planning and Development, alleges in the complaint that he was "set up" by another city employee to repeat a racial slur during an August meeting of department heads, then discriminated against by various city leaders, including members of the Sheboygan Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Initiative, in an effort to remove him from his position.

The lawsuit, filed Aug. 7 in federal court, names as defendants the City of Sheboygan, Mayor Ryan Sorenson, Common Council members Barbara Felde, Roberta Filicky-Peneski, Amanda Salazar and Uptown Social Director Emily Rendall-Araujo.

It is the latest in a series of litigation surrounding interpersonal issues with the city council. After former city administrator Todd Wolf was fired in January, he filed a lawsuit against 13 people, including Sheboygan's mayor.

Aug. 21, the Common Council approved a new city administrator, Casey Bradley, who will assume the role Oct. 23, and a new director of Planning and Development, Diane McGinnis-Casey, who will start Aug. 28.

What sparked the chain of events?

In August 2022, during an internal meeting of various department heads, Pelishek brought up concerns pointed out to him regarding racism in neighborhoods. A city official informed Pelishek they were told by a resident leading a neighborhood meeting that a man had made a racist comment at the meeting and used the N-word.

When Pelishek spoke about this to other department leaders at the August meeting, he quoted the man, repeating the racial slur.

After the meeting, then-city administrator Wolf sent an email to department heads apologizing for not immediately correcting a “misstep from a team member” but that the statement made at the meeting was not intended to be offensive. He also requested that department heads not discuss "departmental interactions" with other people. Pelishek emailed a brief apology to the other department heads the morning after the meeting in which he said the racial slur.

The incident did not come to public attention until October, after the Sheboygan Press reported on it.

In an interview with the Press, then-city administrator Wolf said he was "disappointed" in a director who "let the information out" to the public. Residents expressed concerns that Wolf's primary focus after the meeting was not that Pelishek said a racial slur, but that a director breached trust by sharing what happened with people who were not involved in the meeting.

In October, the city council voted to limit Wolf's responsibilities, and handed communication and media relations tasks over to the mayor. Then, in November, they placed Wolf on administrative leave while an outside attorney conducted an investigation into his responses to personnel issues.

The council then voted to fire Wolf during a city council meeting in January.

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Pelishek's lawsuit complaint states he continued working in his role while the controversy unfolded. But it claims Pelishek faced "eight months of gag orders, threats, harassment, being labeled as a 'racist,' and finally watching even his young children be harassed for information about him."

Eventually, Pelishek chose to take a leave of absence under the Family Medical Leave Act in March. He then resigned in May without returning to his job.

What exactly does Pelishek's lawsuit claim?

Pelishek's complaint alleges the city's policies and practices created a "hostile and abusive working environment" for Pelishek "and other white males similarly situated."

The lawsuit claims the defendants violated Pelishek's rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which "prohibits an employer from discriminating against employees on the basis of their sex, sexual orientation, race, and/or religion"; the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause, which states that the government cannot deny employees equal protection of the law based on race, gender or other identity; the First Amendment right to free speech without government retaliation; and the First Amendment right prohibiting prior restraint, which refers to restricting what a person is allowed to say.

The complaint states Pelishek believes the Sheboygan DEIB and others affiliated with it, including Sorenson, Salazar and Rendall-Araujo, arranged for the unknown man at the neighborhood meeting to say the N-word, then encouraged Pelishek to repeat it and "created this outcry" so Pelishek would be fired "to 'dismantle the patriarchy.'"

Pelishek alleges he "was subjected to insults, severe harassment, and public humiliation." He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages and requests a jury trial.

Pelishek's and Wolf's lawsuits were filed by the same attorney, Jennifer DeMaster.

Other lawsuits have been filed

Reported issues between city staff and Wolf date back before the racial slur incident.

The reason Wolf was the primary person to deal with complaints about staff conduct at the time Pelishek repeated the slur in a meeting was because Sheboygan had no human resources director, since the former director, Vicky Schneider, took leave from November 2021 through May 2022, then resigned in June 2022. Schneider alleged that Wolf retaliated against her for opposing sexual harassment of a female city employee.

Schneider filed a complaint with Wisconsin's Equal Rights Division in February 2022. Status of that complaint could not be confirmed prior to publication.

Two community members who serve as steering committee members of the Sheboygan DEIB, Jamie Haack and Alexandra Guevara, filed claims for $20,000 each in damages from the City of Sheboygan in relation to defamatory statements made by Wolf in November.

On Nov. 7, Wolf emailed city employees a "confidential" notice claiming Haack and Guevara threatened him with extortion at an Oct. 5 lunch. Wolf claimed Haack and Guevara threatened to "publicly oppose" Wolf if he did not give $70,000 of city money to the Sheboygan DEIB. That evening, the council voted to put Wolf on administrative leave, and Wolf's attorney, DeMaster, issued a public release the following day claiming Wolf's opposition to "bribery, corruption, threats, political favors, wasting of taxpayer dollars, and discrimination practices at city hall," directly led to his suspension.

Haack and Guevara, in response, issued a joint statement in December saying Wolf's allegations about them were "simply not true." They said the meeting in actuality was "polite and cordial," and they suggested to Wolf that the city consider hiring diversity, equity and inclusion experts and a Human Resources director with knowledge and experience in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

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The city denied Hack's and Guevara's claims, claiming Wolf made the statements while he was specifically ordered not to make any public comments, so the city would not be liable for any of his comments.

Haack and Guevara then came back with an adjusted notice of claim, asking for a lower amount that is essentially just enough to cover their current legal fees, Haack said. Haack and Guevara said they have not heard any updates from the city or city attorney since July 5, but sent a letter addressed to the city, city attorney, mayor and city council following up and requesting a public statement clearing their names on July 31. They said they have still received no response or acknowledgement of the letter.

Wolf's lawsuit, filed in January, alleges the investigation into his conduct was launched "without any legitimate justification." The lawsuit is ongoing, although one of the defendants listed, a former Sheboygan Press reporter, has a pending motion to be dismissed that was filed jointly by both the Press' attorney and DeMaster.

Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli. 

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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Ex-Sheboygan plan director Chad Pelishek sues city, mayor, councilors