Former Toledo assistant Craig Kuligowski is suing the varsity and considered one of its directors, alleging he was fired due to his age and race, and that the varsity violated due course of when dismissing him in January 2023.
Kuligowski, a 2022 Toledo Corridor of Fame inductee who performed on the faculty and twice served as an assistant, filed the lawsuit final month in U.S. District Courtroom in Ohio, and is looking for damages in extra of $10 million. Toledo, which is being represented by the Ohio Legal professional Common’s workplace, issued its response to the lawsuit Monday.
In a 22-page submitting, Kuligowski’s attorneys wrote he was fired “as a result of he was the unsuitable age and the unsuitable race,” including that the college deemed him “not consultant” of its athletes and changed him with a youthful, Black worker. Kuligowski, who’s now teaching for a workforce in Poland, is 55 and white. His lawsuit names Toledo and Bethany Ziviski, who had been the college’s interim senior affiliate vice chairman of human assets and chief human assets officer on the time of Kuligowski’s firing. Ziviski on Monday filed a movement to dismiss Kuligowski’s lawsuit.
“Craig Kuligowski, a former assistant soccer coach at The College of Toledo, was terminated for trigger Jan. 14, 2023, for violating the College’s non-retaliation and requirements of conduct insurance policies,” Toledo mentioned in a press release to ESPN. “UToledo is dedicated to making a secure and welcoming atmosphere for everybody and holds our leaders to excessive requirements. It’s crucial that each one staff observe College coverage and supply academic and dealing environments which might be free from discrimination and harassment. The College will decline additional touch upon pending litigation.”
Within the fall of 2022, a feminine worker filed a sexual harassment report towards Kuligowski, alleging that he made inappropriate feedback about her clothes, particularly her “fancy pants.” Kuligowski denied making the assertion and mentioned the college by no means corroborated the criticism. Toledo in its response Monday disputed his account. Either side acknowledge that the worker didn’t need the college to proceed with a proper criticism. Toledo opened a proper investigation in early October 2022.
Kuligowski’s lawsuit states that the feminine worker approached him in December 2022, main him to say, “If my spouse knew you had been close to me, she’d kill you,” which he claimed was a “joke born of an uncomfortable scenario.” The worker filed a criticism towards Kuligowski the next day, asking for him to be fired. Toledo quickly suspended Kuligowski and despatched him dwelling from the workforce’s bowl sport. In response to his lawsuit, the college didn’t present Kuligowski a cause for his suspension or give him the prospect to reply.
Toledo, in its response, denied the claims and in addition denied Kuligowski’s allegation that its human assets division discovered him “chargeable for retaliation and not using a listening to.” In Ziviski’s movement to dismiss, her attorneys write that Kuligowski didn’t request a “name-clearing listening to,” which invalidates his declare for an absence of due course of.
Kuligowski was an all-conference offensive lineman at Toledo, and commenced his teaching profession there at 1992. He remained with the Rockets till 2001, and returned in 2020 because the workforce’s co-defensive coordinator, assistant head coach and outdoors linebackers coach.
