Opinion
No. 09 C 3642.
June 22, 2009
MEMORANDUM ORDER
Dwayne Reed ("Reed") has submitted a self-prepared Complaint of Employment Discrimination against his ex-employer Illinois Sport Service, using the form provided by this District Court's Clerk's Office for pro se litigants and accompanying that Complaint with another Clerk's-Office-provided form, an In Forma Pauperis Application ("Application"). Because in forma pauperis treatment requires not only an appropriate financial showing but also the presentation of a claim that is nonfrivolous in the legal sense, this memorandum order is issued sua sponte to require something further from Reed.
Complaint ¶ 9 charges that Reed was the victim of discrimination based on his color and race, but nothing in his statement of facts to support his claim (Complaint ¶ 13) provides even inferential support for any such claim. And although Complaint ¶ 7.1 states that a copy of Reed's EEOC Charge of Discrimination is attached to the Complaint, Reed has not done so.
Accordingly Reed is ordered to file on or before July 1, 2009 (1) an amendment to the Complaint that sets out some further (or really any) support of his discrimination claim (including the identification of some non-African-American employee who engaged in conduct similar to Reed's but was not terminated as he was) and (2) a copy of Reed's Charge of Discrimination. This Court will then be in a better position to evaluate whether the Application should be granted and Reed should be allowed to proceed.
From Reed's having checked the boxes in the Complaint referring to "color" and "race" discrimination, this Court has drawn the inference that he is an African-American. If that is not the case, his Complaint amendment should so indicate.
In the absence of the timely submission of the required supplemental materials, the Application would have to be denied. In that event, unless Reed were to pay the $350 filing fee on or before July 21, this Court would be constrained to dismiss both the Complaint and this action.