Joseph Rinella, an employee with the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation Bureau of Forestry, filed a lawsuit against his supervisor, Charles Wagner, alleging that he has suffered “severe emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation, in addition to loss of wages and other compensation.”

In the federal lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Illinois, Rinella alleges that Wagner unfairly targeted him, denied him a promotion and used his political clout to make work life unbearable. Rinella alleges Wagner called him a “rat,” purposefully sent him to trim trees in locations “far away” from his home, and one time said, “It’s 6:03, you’re on my f*** time. Let’s go, get to work.”

Rinella alleges his supervisor violated the city’s Shakman Decree, among other damages, because he “gave the forestry supervisor positions at issue to friends over more qualified employees and/or more senior employees.”