Hinsdale Secretive Where Elmhurst Is Not

HINSDALE, IL – Earlier this year, Hinsdale decided to keep secret a discrimination complaint filed by the estate of a late firefighter who took her own life.

While Hinsdale shifted its reasons for secrecy, it said it was justified under state law.

Not all public bodies apparently see things the same way.

Last week, Elmhurst released a firefighter's complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the same agency where firefighter Nicole Hladik's estate submitted its grievance. The Elmhurst firefighter, too, claimed discrimination.

In both Hinsdale and Elmhurst, lawyers reviewed the legality of the denials.

In July 2020, the 25-year-old Hladik died. She was a Lyons Township High School graduate.

Her estate has claimed she took her own life because of a pattern of discrimination by her superior at the Hinsdale Fire Department. It filed a lawsuit against the village last year.

The village spent $100,000 on an investigation after Hladik's death. It said the independent investigator found the village did nothing wrong, but it has denied Patch's requests to see the report.

In December, Patch asked for the village to disclose the estate's EEOC complaint.

The village denied the request. It cited the possibility of a trial and a pending investigation as reasons to keep the records secret under the state's open

But those justifications did not seem valid. The exemption for trials is to help ensure fairness for criminal defendants, but no one was charged in this case. Further, no investigation was taking place.

After Patch objected, the village changed its reasons. The village's lawyer, Mallory Milluzzi, became involved after the first denial. She found different reasons for secrecy.

She cited the exemption under the state Freedom of Information Act that she said allows the village to keep under wraps documents that are considered secret under federal law. In this case, the federal law governing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission calls for the complaint only to be given to the charging party and the respondent.

The village also claimed the exception for an "unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." And it cited an exemption that allowed it to withhold records prepared for a public body in anticipation of a legal proceeding.

In Elmhurst's case, Patch requested the complaint after the city settled with the firefighter.

Patch has left a message with Milluzzi for comment in light of Elmhurst's decision.