On May 18, Cook County resident Joseph Manasse filed a lawsuit for wrongful termination against J.C. Penney Corporation, Inc., according to Crain’s Chicago Business. Manasse is claiming that the Plano, Tex., retailer fired him because several employees had a problem with him being HIV-positive.
Manasse was the shoe department manager at the J.C. Penney store in Niles, and was employed from February 2002 to May 2003. He is asking for $7 million for each of the 28 counts in the suit. The official reason for his termination, according to the suit, was for stealing $66.20 out of the store cash register a month prior to termination, a crime Manasse was subsequently found not guilty of after a trial, according to the suit.
In addition to J.C. Penney, three individuals are named in the suit: James Voeller, store manager at J.C. Penney’s Niles Center; Michael Chubeck, senior loss prevention manager for the company; and Rodney Wetmore, district loss prevention manager. The suit alleges the three parties ‘knew that Mr. Manasse had never stolen money from J.C. Penney’s cash registers’ and that ‘they fired Mr. Manasse for reasons unrelated to either his work performance or workplace misconduct.’
Manasse is also alleging that the retailer attempted to contest his unemployment benefits, but the State of Illinois’ Department of Employment Security Appeals overturned the decision. The department also stated that Manasse ‘was discharged for reasons other than misconduct connected with work and was therefore not subject to disqualification’ of unemployment benefits.