A former Spin Nightclub employee has filed a lawsuit against the Boystown hotspot and its manager, Robert Hoffman. The suit, which was submitted to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in February, alleges repeated sexual harassment and unfair termination.
Monte Schulz, who worked as a security guard at Spin from March to September 2009, claims Hoffman frequently verbally harassed and sexually propositioned him. The lawsuit further alleges that when the harassment was brought to the attention of Spin’s owner David Gassman, Schulz was promptly fired. Spin did not have a sexual-harassment policy in place for the duration of Schulz’s employment.
“The law says that you can’t violate somebody’s rights. The fact that you don’t have a policy not to violate somebody’s rights doesn’t suddenly mean you can,” said lawyer, Aaron Maduff, who spoke on Schulz’s behalf. “People are hired to do a job and, regardless of what that job is, they were not hired to be victims of sexual harassment.”
Hoffman did not respond to multiple interview requests. Gassman said he could not comment on an ongoing legal matter, but did issue the following statement: “For what it’s worth, anybody can file a lawsuit, and there are plenty of lawyers out there who will take them on contingency. They’ve got nothing else to do.”
This is not the first lawsuit for Spin and Hoffman. In early 2010, two women working as A&C Productions sued the nightclub over a contractual dispute; the pair claimed Hoffman treated them unfairly because they are lesbians. A “Boycott Spin” Facebook group that grew to 600 members documented alleged unfair treatment of women and racial minorities.