Former Iowa State director sues university, resigned vice president for discrimination

Months after agreeing to a $124,000 “separation payment” as part of a surprise split with its relatively new Senior Vice President for Operations and Finance Shawn Norman, Iowa State University is facing a lawsuit accusing it and Norman of sex and age discrimination.

Christine Maduro, 57, of Indianola, on July 31 filed a lawsuit in Story County District Court accusing ISU and Norman of discrimination in her June 13, 2023, firing.

“Ms. Maduro’s employment was permeated with discriminatory and hostile views, specifically from Mr. Norman, toward older women in the workplace who worked in Ms. Maduro’s management position,” according to the lawsuit. “Ms. Maduro was discriminated against because she was an older woman when Mr. Norman refused to work with Ms. Maduro, when Mr. Norman promoted someone else to a position who was less qualified than Ms. Maduro, and subsequently terminated from her position without just cause and with no evidence of wrongdoing.”

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Maduro started Aug. 16, 2021, as ISU’s associate director of facilities services — a little over a year before Norman started on Jan. 1, 2023, after a national search.

In that role, she reported to Facilities Services Director Bob Currie until he retired in May 2023. She was chosen just before his departure to replace him in the director role — making her the first woman to hold the position at ISU, according to the lawsuit.

In her new post overseeing more than 300 employees — including in building maintenance and repairs, grounds maintenance and custodial services — Maduro said she reported to Associate Vice President of Facilities Planning and Management Paul Fuligni. She was paid more than $107,00 a year, according to the most recent data posted from fiscal 2022 in state records.

Around the same time Maduro was chosen to succeed Currie, Norman said he needed to be involved in that selection, according to the lawsuit. Fuligni told him “it was too late” and that Maduro already had been offered the position.

When Maduro stepped into her duties, she said, Norman began canceling their meetings and tours of ISU facility grounds and buildings. “The purpose of these tours was to highlight to Mr. Norman deficiencies and issues relating to maintenance and other conditions within the facilities,” according to the lawsuit.

When Norman announced June 5, 2023, that Fuligni was retiring, he said a younger female employee — who had applied for the job that Maduro got — would fill in for Fuligni on an interim basis. Given her seniority, Maduro said she was surprised to be passed over for the post by someone under her.

In a town hall meeting with the department the next day, Norman “threatened many times that certain individuals would not survive (his) planned restructure of the department.” And then a week later, Maduro met with Norman and a human resources representative about “an ongoing investigation into Ms. Maduro.”

Maduro said she wasn’t aware of any investigation and hadn’t been interviewed or given a chance to defend herself against allegations of wrongdoing. When she asked Norman for more information about the investigation and its findings, he said he couldn’t talk about it, according to Maduro’s lawsuit.

“Then, without any explanation or insight into the investigation’s findings, nor any indication Ms. Maduro engaged in culpable conduct, Mr. Norman informed Ms. Maduro that her management style did not align with Mr. Norman’s vision for the department,” the lawsuit alleged. “At the conclusion of the meeting, Mr. Norman informed Ms. Maduro he was separating her from her position as director of Facilities Services.”

Her termination paperwork said only that Norman was “exercising his rights to terminate Ms. Maduro as an at-will employee,” according to the lawsuit, noting a male was chosen to replace her on an interim basis.

Having received only positive reviews previously, Maduro appealed her termination on June 30, 2023, and ISU President Wendy Wintersteen upheld it — finding Maduro’s firing was “due to an investigation into Ms. Maduro’s department but that Ms. Maduro herself was not the subject of the investigation.”

“Dr. Wintersteen also said her termination was upheld after meeting with Mr. Norman on Ms. Maduro’s appeal,” according to the lawsuit. “Dr. Wintersteen’s letter states Ms. Maduro was unable to foster a collaborative work environment and implement Mr. Norman’s vision within the department.”

Maduro in her lawsuit noted she’d never been warned, reprimanded or told to improve, and she had never had a meeting with Norman about his vision.

ISU has offered various reasons for Maduro’s firing, according to the lawsuit.

For example, when Maduro applied for unemployment benefits, ISU challenged her application, stating she had been terminated for “gross misconduct and not following instruction, policy or contract.” Upon further inquiry, Maduro learned the investigation that triggered her termination started April 12, 2023 — before she started as Facilities Services director, according to the lawsuit. Maduro later withdrew her application.

According to a December settlement, Norman — who was earning a salary of $383,800 — received a $124,000 separation payment when he left. Per the deal, Norman agreed not to sue ISU or any of its officers. The university has not admitted any wrongdoing or released any details about the circumstances that led to his departure.

Maduro in her lawsuit accused Norman and the university of sex discrimination for subjecting her to “severe and disparate treatment” in her termination.

“Plaintiff’s sex was a motivating factor in the discrimination,” she said in the suit, adding that her age also “was a motivating factor for defendants’ adverse employment action.”

Earlier this year, Norman’s executive assistant, Caitlynn Miller, agreed to settle harassment and retaliation allegations for the same $124,000 payout. Per her settlement finalized May 17, Miller agreed not to sue ISU for any claims — including any related to age discrimination, equal pay and civil rights.

Miller, serving as assistant to the interim senior vice president for operations and finance, was to keep her job — according to the settlement, reporting “nothing in this agreement alters the terms and conditions of her current employment.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com