Aurelio's Age Discrimination Lawsuit Will Fail: Owner

JOLIET, IL - A Crest Hill woman who used to work at the Aurelio's Pizza on Jefferson Street has filed a civil lawsuit accusing the long-time Joliet pizza restaurant of harassment, age discrimination and retaliation. The lawsuit also accuses employees at Aurelio's of intentionally dumping large amounts of sugar into the woman's personal cup of coffee knowing she had diabetes.

Linda Steen-Bilecki, the lawsuit states, worked at Aurelio's for about nine months in 2016. The lawsuit alleges that "she was unlawfully terminated on or about October 7, 2016. At all relevant times, plaintiff was over the age of 40." Naperville attorneys John Kreamer and Joseph Urani of The Kreamer Law Group filed the civil lawsuit last week at the Will County Courthouse on behalf of the former Aurelio's worker.

Joliet Aurelio's owner Luke Pascale, who was responsible for firing Steen in October 2016, told Joliet Patch the former employee previously filed a discrimination complaint against Aurelio's with the state of Illinois and her case was dismissed.

Pascale said the allegations Steen has lodged are all completely false.

"She filed with the state, and it was dismissed," Pascale told Patch. "There are no grounds to support anything she has said. She completely made up the things in there. She didn't get along with" her fellow employees.

Furthermore, Pascale told Patch, "my attorney said she can file ... (but) her lawsuit claims are all false."

Pascale told Patch that he was justified in firing Steen two years ago. "She was a bad employee plain and simple," he said. "I will defend myself ... There's no evidence to support her claims."

According to her lawsuit, Steen was hired at Aurelio's in Joliet as a server but also performed several other jobs during the scope of her employment.

"During the course of her employment, (Steen) complained to her managers about what she believed was inappropriate behavior by other employees of defendant, including but not limited to playing loud and inappropriate music, engaging in inappropriate and lewd conversations and swearing and cursing all in the range of being heard by customers and patrons of the restaurant."

After Steen became vocal, the lawsuit states, "she was subjected to numerous and consistent comments by multiple employees of the defendant, including but not limited to her direct and immediate supervisor, Samantha (Garganto) Slobodnik referencing (Steen's) age and making comments while at work and in the presence of other employees and patrons including ...

• "Linda is old and ugly."
• "Aren't you a little old to be taking care of that many people?"
• "(Expletive) that old bitch."
• "We'll get you out of here one way or the other."
• "We don't need that old bitch here."

"After being repeatedly subjected to these comments relating to her age, plaintiff on several occasions complained to her supervisors, Joe Orlando, Samantha Slobodnik and one of the defendant's owners, Luke Pascale, about the same," her lawyers informed Will County's judicial system.

From that point forward, the lawsuit states, Aurelio's retaliated against her in the following ways:

• Denied letting Steen wait upon larger parties, preventing her from earning adequate tips.
• Denied her an adequate number of tables to wait on restaurant customers
• Forced Steen to clean the bathrooms and other areas of the business even though these tasks were not part of her initial employment. These tasks prevented her from earning tips.
• Dumped large amounts of sugar into Steen's personal cups of coffee at Aurelio's knowing that she had diabetes.
• Employees wrote Steen's name on the Aurelio's shift board without her knowledge which therefore got her in trouble for not showing up to work on days she did not sign up to work.

On Oct. 7, 2016, the lawsuit states, Steen got a phone call from Pascale, the owner.

"You are fired, you are (expletive) trying to sue me? I'll send you your final check when I feel like it," the lawsuit states that Pascale told Steen.

"The reasons given for plaintiff's termination were pretextual and motivated by retaliation," The Kreamer Law Group argues. "At all relevant times, younger employees were treated more favorably than plaintiff was. Plaintiff has suffered and will continue to suffer significant damages as a result ..."

Count one in the lawsuit alleges age discrimination and harassment by Aurelio's in Joliet.

Count two alleges Aurelio's created a hostile work environment.

Count three alleges retaliation/retaliatory discharge.

"The above mentioned acts of defendants were willful, wanton, malicious and oppressive and justify the awarding of exemplary and punitive damages," Steen's lawyers argue.

As of Wednesday, legal representatives for Aurelio's have not filed a response to the lawsuit. A court hearing on the case is scheduled for Feb. 13.

Main image via Google Maps