White Male Law Student Sues Chicago Bears For Race, Sex Discrimination

CHICAGO — A DePaul University law student has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Chicago Bears Monday, accusing employees of the NFL team of a conspiracy against white men.

Jonathan Bresser was rejected by the Bears in January after he applied for the position of legal diversity fellow, which listed "person of color and/or female law student" among its qualifications.

“With respect to this case, my position is simple, and my message consistent," Bresser said in a statement. "All people, regardless of their race, origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other factor must be entitled to the same opportunities for success."

According to his suit, someone from the Chicago Bears viewed his LinkedIn profile after he applied for the job and before his application was denied.

"Your qualifications have been carefully reviewed," a Bears HR representative told Bresser in January. "We reject to inform you that we have chosen to pursue other applicants whose experience and qualifications more closely match our needs."

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Bresser, of Batavia, filed a charge against the Bears with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Feb. 1, according to his suit. The commission dismissed the charge and notified him and the Bears of his right to sue on Feb. 28.

The next day, after receiving notice of Bresser's discrimination charge, Bears staffers "conspired to cover up the intentional discrimination against [him] by sending an e-mail attempting to claw back the rejection of Plaintiff’s application and requesting that he submit his transcript for his fall grades," according to his suit.

A message from the Bears included as an exhibit gives an applicant until March 15 to supplement their application, "even if you received notification regarding your qualifications for the position prior to submitting your transcript."

Bresser's 10-count complaint alleges the Bears engaged in intentional race and sex discrimination in violation of the Civil Rights Act and the Illinois Human Rights Act — as well as a civil conspiracy in the form of implementing a discriminatory hiring practice against him.

"The conspiracy targeted Caucasians and men, both of which are protected classes," it said.

According to his suit, the Arizona State University graduate has worked as a litigation paralegal with Trent Law Firm in Chicago for the past 2 ½ years. His complaint alleges that the only one of the job qualifications that he plausibly failed to meet was the requirement that applicants be non-white or women.

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Marc Trent, Bresser's attorney and partner at his namesake firm, said in a statement that the Bears posted a job listing that was discriminatory on its face.

“Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it. Mr. Bresser has an extensive work history in a law firm and he received a substantial scholarship to attend law school. His strong academic and professional performance demonstrates he is a qualified candidate for the position he was denied based on race and gender," Trent said.

"We filed this suit to right a wrong,” he added.

Trent also represents a longtime Elmhurst University music teacher who filed suit last month after he was not re-hired, alleging the school and the chair of the music department discriminated against him because he is Jewish.

In addition to the Chicago Bears' corporate entity, Bresser's suit names as defendants several named and unnamed individual employees. They include the team's senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, its former senior vice president and general counsel, a DEI manager, its vice president of human resources, HR manager of employee experience and an HR operations coordinator.

"We do not comment publicly on ongoing litigation," a Chicago Bears spokesperson told Patch, "but we plan to rigorously defend the claim."

An initial status hearing on Bresser's case has been scheduled for May 15.