Cagnetti v. Juniper Vill. at Bensalem Operations

JESSICA CAGNETTI v. JUNIPER VILLAGE AT BENSALEM OPERATIONS, dba JUNIPER COMMUNITIES

CIVIL ACTION NO. 18-5121

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

JULY 17, 2020

MEMORANDUM

SURRICK, J.

Presently before the Court in this employment discrimination matter is Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment. (ECF No. 28.) For the following reasons, Defendant's Motion will be granted in part and denied in part.

I. BACKGROUND

Wood River Village was a retirement community in Bucks County. (Farewege Decl. ¶ 6, SJ Mot. Ex. A, ECF No. 28-5.) Plaintiff Jessica Cagnetti began working at Wood River Village in April 2001, as a transportation aide. She was 14 years old. (Cagnetti Dep. 14-16, SJ Resp. Ex. A, ECF No. 29-2.) As a transportation aide, she brought residents to and from dinner. (Id. at 16.) Cagnetti also held various other positions at Wood River Village, including seating hostess, waitress, prep cook, cook, and dishwasher. She also stocked inventory, unloaded trucks, and filled in for aides when needed. (Id.) For several years, Cagnetti never had any formal titles for many of these positions. She simply helped wherever it was needed. Beginning in 2003, she started performing cooking duties. By 2010, Cagnetti was formally referred to as a cook and she worked that job on a full-time basis. (Id. at 16-18.)

On December 1, 2016, Defendant Juniper Village at Bensalem Operations, LLC acquired Wood River Village. The business is now referred to as Juniper Village at Bucks County ("Juniper Village"). (Farewege Decl. ¶¶ 3-6.) The day of the acquisition, Juniper Village hired Cagnetti as a full-time cook, at $13.00 per hour. (SJ Mot. Ex. Q, ECF No. 28-21.) She reported to Leitimore Collier, who was the kitchen director. (Cagnetti Dep. 52-53.)

Shortly after Juniper Village took over the business, Cagnetti approached the then-executive director, Gerald McEvilly, and asked him for a raise. Cagnetti told him that she believed she was being paid less than other cooks. (Cagnetti Dep. 42-43.) To her knowledge, Moses Barnes and Ryan Zolick, two other cooks who had recently left Juniper Village, had been earning $16.00 per hour and $15.00 per hour, respectively. (Id. at 43-46.) According to Cagnetti, they had no prior culinary experience. (Id. at 46.) After looking into the matter, McEvilly agreed that Cagnetti was being underpaid. (Id. at 43.) Effective September 1, 2017, Cagnetti's pay was increased from $13.00 per hour to $14.50 per hour. (SJ Resp. Ex. E, ECF No. 29-2.)

On September 6, 2017, Juniper Village hired Joseph Cillo as a cook, at $17.00 per hour. (Cillo Dep. 12, SJ Mot. Ex. F, ECF No. 28-10; SJ Mot. Ex. T, ECF No. 28-24.) Before working at Juniper Village, Cillo had about 18 years of cooking experience at various businesses, including a school, hotel, pizza shop, and catering company. He also studied business and restaurant management for three years at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, where he obtained an associate degree in culinary science/restaurant management. (Cillo Dep. 9-11; SJ Mot. Ex. G, ECF No. 28-11.) In February of 2018, Juniper Village hired Joseph Melendez as a cook, also at $17.00 per hour. (Cagnetti Dep. 59; SJ Mot. Ex. R, ECF No. 28-22.) Before joining Juniper Village, Melendez had about 24 years of cooking experience at various restaurants. He alsostudied at Johnson & Wales culinary school in Miami, Florida. (SJ Mot. Ex. S, ECF No. 28-23.)

At Collier's request, Cagnetti showed Cillo and Melendez around the kitchen and otherwise mentored them with respect to meal service, recipes, and diet needs. (Cagnetti Dep. 52, 90.) Collier and Phil Cohen, a morning supervisor, asked Cagnetti to give extra attention to Melendez. (Id. at 52.) Based on Cagnetti's interactions with Melendez and Cillo, she came to believe that they were making $18.00 per hour. (Id. at 49-50.)

In October of 2017, Peter Farewege, Jr. became executive director of Juniper Village. (Cagnetti Dep. 49; Farewege Dep. 15-16, SJ Mot. Ex. I, ECF No. 28-13.) Several months later, on April 24, 2018, Cagnetti brought various workplace issues to his attention. (Cagnetti Dep. 49.) First, she told Farewege that she felt her pay was unfair in comparison to that of Cillo and Melendez, especially because she was their mentor and she had worked at the retirement community for years. (Id. at 49-52; "Meeting Notes," SJ Resp. Ex. G, ECF No. 29-2.)¹ According to Cagnetti, she told Farewege that she thought her sex had something to do with the pay disparity. (Cagnetti Dep. 70.) According to Farewege's notes, however, Cagnetti did not raise the issue of sex discrimination. (See Meeting Notes.) Second, Cagnetti expressed her suspicion that Melendez was stealing food from the kitchen, based on her observation that he was frequently walking out of the retirement community with boxes of food. (Id.; Cagnetti Dep. 63-66.) Third, Cagnetti complained to Farewege about Melendez's behavior towards her and other workers. For example, although Cagnetti never heard it for herself, Melendez allegedly referred to two Korean employees as "ping" and "pong." (Cagnetti Dep. 57-58.) Melendez also "pickedon" Cagnetti and another female coworker, Amanda Usewicz, because of their weight. (Id.) With regard to Usewicz, Melendez said several times that she was "fat and nasty" and "couldn't get a boyfriend [be]cause she looked like that." (Id. at 58.) With regard to Cagnetti, Melendez called her "anorexic" and asked her if she used drugs. (Id. at 61.) In response to Cagnetti's complaints, Farewege advised Cagnetti that he would look into the issues. (Id. at 71; Meeting Notes.)

On May 18, 2018, Cagnetti's rate of pay was increased by 8%, to $15.66 per hour, effective May 1, 2018. (Meeting Notes; "May 18, 2018 Status Change Form," SJ Resp. Ex. H, ECF No. 29-2.) When Collier had Cagnetti sign paperwork related to her raise, she told him that she still did not understand why Melendez was being paid more than she. (Cagnetti Dep. 74-75; May 18, 2018 Status Change Form.) In response, Collier shook his head, which Cagnetti took to mean that the issue was out of his hands. (Cagnetti Dep. 75.) With respect to the two other issues Cagnetti raised with Farewege, Farewege never followed up with her. (Id. at 76.) Meanwhile, Cagnetti continued to discuss her concerns with Collier on a weekly basis, but nothing was ever done to address them. (Id. at 95, 135.)

On June 20, 2018, Cagnetti and Melendez got into a heated exchange, apparently over a pineapple. ("Cagnetti's June 20, 2018 Incident Statement," SJ Resp. Ex. J, ECF No. 29-2; Cagnetti Dep. 98-101.) Cillo was an eyewitness to at least some of the confrontation and had a good relationship with Melendez. Cagnetti's account of the incident is inconsistent with that of Melendez and Cillo. (See Cagnetti Dep. 98-101; Cagnetti's June 20, 2018 Incident Statement; "Melendez's June 20, 2018 Incident Statement," SJ Mot. Ex. L, ECF No. 28-16; "Cillo's June 20, 2018 Incident Statement," SJ Mot. Ex. M, ECF No. 28-17; Cillo Dep. 20.) According to Cagnetti, Melendez was the aggressor and had a nasty attitude, got in Cagnetti's face, poked herin the chest, twice, and called her "bitch" and "cunt." (Cagnetti's June 20, 2018 Incident Statement; Cagnetti Dep. 98-99.) Cagnetti admits to using profanity herself. (Cagnetti Dep. 100.)

According to Melendez, Cagnetti was the one with the attitude, and it was Cagnetti who touched him. (Melendez's June 20, 2018 Incident Statement.) According to Cillo, Cagnetti pushed Melendez in the chest with both hands. Cillo admits that he did not see the entire confrontation and does not know who escalated the situation first. (Cillo's June 20, 2018 Incident Statement; Cillo Dep. 21-22.) In addition, Enid Bogochea, another employee, issued a signed statement indicating that during the argument, Melendez called Cagnetti a "bitch and said that he was tired of her shit." (SJ Resp. Ex. T, ECF No. 29-2.) There is no evidence that Bogochea was an eyewitness to the incident, and it is unclear when she issued her statement.

Cillo broke up the altercation. (Cillo's June 20, 2018 Incident Statement.) Afterwards, Cagnetti brought the matter to the attention of Cindy Hutchinson, who handled human resources issues. (Cagnetti Dep. 101; Hutchinson Dep. 12-14, SJ Resp. Ex. K, ECF No. 29-2; "Hutchinson Statement," SJ Resp. Ex. L, ECF No. 29-2.) The two discussed the issue in Hutchinson's office. Hutchinson then found Farewege, who joined the conversation. (Hutchinson Statement; Cagnetti Dep. 102.) Hutchinson and Farewege asked Cagnetti to write a statement explaining the incident and advised Cagnetti that she would be suspended pending investigation of the matter. (Cagnetti Dep. 102-04.) Cagnetti complied and wrote a statement. (Cagnetti's June 20, 2018 Incident Statement.) Melendez, Cillo, and Hutchinson also wrote statements. (Id.; Hutchinson Statement; Cillo's June 20, 2018 Incident Statement; Melendez's June 20, 2018 Incident Statement.) After leaving work that day, Cagnetti reported the incident to the police. (Cagnetti. Dep. 111.)

Two days later, on June 22, 2018, Melendez was issued a first and final written warningfor using vulgar language and approaching Cagnetti in an "aggressive manner by invading her personal space." (SJ Mot. Ex. O, ECF No. 28-19.) He was suspended for three days and required to undergo reeducation on Juniper Village's Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct and Violence in the Workplace. (Id.) That same day, Hutchinson and Farewege notified Cagnetti that she was being terminated for her conduct. (Cagnetti Dep. 106-07.) According to the discipline form issued to Cagnetti, she "pushed" Melendez, thus engaging in "violence in the workplace." (SJ Resp. Ex. N, ECF No. 29-2.) When asked why Cagnetti was terminated, whereas Melendez was not, Farewege explained that he "did not corroborate that [Melendez] physically engaged. [He] did corroborate that [Plaintiff] physically engaged by pushing, and that was...