Everson v. Cong. Black Caucus Found., Inc.

MACHERIE EVERSON, Plaintiff, v. CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS FOUNDATION, INC., Defendant.

Civil Action No. 19-2720 (TJK)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

October 16, 2020

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Macherie Reese Everson, a former fellow with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, sued the CBCF for employment discrimination based on sexual harassment, retaliation, and several common law torts. The CBCF now moves to dismiss, arguing that most of Everson's claims are untimely and the remainder fail to state a claim. For the reasons discussed below, the Court will grant the motion in almost all respects, except as to certain aspects of Counts V, VIII, and IX.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

According to the amended complaint, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. ("CBCF") "is a Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit nonpartisan public policy, research and educational institute[.]" ECF No. 12-2 ("Def.'s Mem.") at 3; see ECF No. 8 ("Am. Compl.") ¶ 7.¹ Its Congressional Fellowship Program provides "early career policy professionals" with "hands-on public policy training as full-time legislative aides and policy analysts." Def.'s Mem. at 4.CBCF's Director is Aujanette Shaunise Washington and the Fellowship Coordinator is Christina Sullivan-Mutia. See Am. Compl. ¶¶ 10-12.

Everson is a former fellow whose term began in 2012. See id. ¶ 20. As part of her fellowship, she worked in the office of U.S. Representative Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Id. ¶¶ 8, 22. Everson allegedly experienced "discomfort" in the office. Id. ¶ 26. She says that Scott's Legislative Director, Ilana Brewer, suggested that she "stay after work so that she could build a relationship with the Congressman" and told her that she did not need to wear suit jackets over her blouses, which Everson interpreted as sexualized remarks. Id. ¶ 23. Everson alleges that Scott was "touchy feely," and that he "touch[ed] her on her knee while riding on the monorail between the Senate buildings while asking her intimate questions[.]" Id. ¶ 27. According to Everson, Scott invited her to "events that would require him to give her a ride home." Id.

Everson alleges that she observed Scott and Lauren Victoria Burke, a friend of Scott's, see id. ¶ 62, exit "the bathroom in his office with disheveled clothing." Id. ¶ 28. Scott and Burke gave Everson a ride home after an event, and in the vehicle, Everson found "a strap-on dildo under the driver's seat," which made her so "uncomfortable [that she] got out three blocks away from her house and walked home." Id. ¶ 29. In April 2013, Scott's "sexual overtures" prompted Everson to inform Sullivan-Mutia of her desire to leave the office and to find an assignment on a committee that Scott did not sit on. Id. ¶¶ 30-31. Everson also alleges that once, Scott asked her if she would be "good" if she staffed him on an event, and when she responded affirmatively, said, "If you're going to be good, then what's the point of you coming?" Id. ¶ 33. Scott then allegedly asked Everson to "flirt" with him at the event, and Everson rejected his overtures. Id.

Everson interpreted these incidents as Scott's efforts to "change [her] job description to include sex worker." ECF No. 20-5 ("Pl.'s Opp.") at 5. Further, she concluded "that she would have to acquiesce to his request or find a new place to work." Id.

In March 2013, Everson alleges that she met with Lonnie Johnson, a member of the CBCF's Board of Directors whom she had met before at a CBCF event, in the cafeteria in the Longworth House Office Building. See Am. Compl. ¶¶ 9, 37; Pl.'s Opp. at 4. Johnson allegedly told Everson that he would help her with her career, but "that he spent 5 days a week in DC and his wife never came up and that while he was in town he needed something soft to come home to." Am. Compl. ¶ 37. Plaintiff, who construed these statements as a proposition for a sexual relationship, declined Johnson's offer and left the meeting. See id.; Pl.'s Opp. at 4.

In June that year, Everson resigned from Scott's office after giving only a few days' notice, hoping to get a position on a committee chaired by a female member of Congress. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 38, 40. Later that month, she accepted a job with the House Financial Services Committee. Id. ¶ 41. The committee's Chief of Staff, Charla Ouertatani, allegedly asked Everson why she wanted to leave Scott's office, and after some hesitation, she explained "that she had an inappropriate experience with the Congressman and was trying to protect herself by working for a committee staff of a female Member." Id. ¶ 42. Ouertatani pressed further, and Everson explained that Scott sexually harassed her. Id. Ouertatani allegedly told Everson that Scott's Chief of Staff, Joni Ivey, "was 'badmouthing' her for 'burning her bridge.'" Id. Ouertatani allegedly encouraged Everson to "smooth things over," Pl.'s Opp. at 6, and "make amends for any possible bridges that were burned," Am. Compl. ¶ 43, arising from her abrupt departure from Scott's office. See Pl.'s Opp. at 6. To this end, Sullivan-Mutia advised Everson to write Ivey a letter. See Am. Compl. ¶ 43; see also ECF No. 8 at 169-72; Pl.'s Opp. at 6.Everson did so, apologizing to Ivey for leaving abruptly and missing her exit meeting, claiming that she did so because she was "overwhelmed by the process of starting in a new office," and saying that she "truly value[d] and appreciate[d] the time spent with [Ivey] and Team Scott." ECF No. 8 at 170; see Am. Compl. ¶ 44. According to Everson, Sullivan-Mutia indicated to her that she would help Everson find a placement on a Senate committee if she wrote the letter, but reneged afterward. Pl.'s Opp. at 6.

But even after moving to the House Financial Services Committee, Everson alleges that she "began to receive abusive treatment from . . . Ouertatani in the form of refusal of work her plan [sic] and conflicting directions." Am. Compl. ¶ 45; see Pl.'s Opp. at 6. Sullivan-Mutia allegedly requested that Everson "be released from the [Financial Services] Committee and returned to the CBCF for 'professional development.'" Pl.'s Opp. at 6; see Am. Compl. ¶ 46. Upon her return to the CBCF, Sullivan-Mutia placed Everson on a performance improvement plan ("PIP") "with trumped up allegations." Am. Compl. ¶ 47. Everson allegedly disputed the characterization of her performance in the PIP and added her own addendum to the document. Id.; ECF No. 8 at 176-78. She alleges that her "release" from the Financial Services Committee was effectively a termination. Am. Compl. ¶ 46. Even after Everson completed this "coaching and mentoring," she allegedly "would not be allowed to return to Congress," id., or to work on the Hill again. Pl.'s Opp. at 6. She claims that the PIP and her discharge from the Financial Services Committee were retaliatory actions taken by Sullivan-Mutia and the CBCF for telling Ouertatani about the harassment she experienced from Scott. Am. Compl. ¶ 47.

Everson "filed a formal complaint with the CBCF" on November 25, 2013 about the harassment and retaliation she had experienced. Id. ¶ 50. She allegedly intended "to ask CBCF leadership how to succeed in the workplace without having to sleep her way to the top[.]" Id.Days later, on December 6, 2013, the CBCF terminated her. Id. CBCF Director Washington asked her to sign a separation agreement, and Everson refused to do so. Id.; see ECF No. 8 at 180-82.

After her termination, Everson interviewed for an unpaid fellowship with U.S. Representative Gary Peters. Am. Compl. ¶ 51. Allegedly because she could not get a reference from the CBCF or Scott, Representative Peters declined to extend her an offer. Id. Unable to secure another placement, she alleges that her "career was derailed as a result of the House Financial Services Committee and the CBCF firing her." Id. ¶¶ 49-55.

In 2014, Everson "wrote a book to help women address sexual harassment in the workplace" based on her experience with the CBCF. Id. ¶ 56. She released her book in January 2015 and again in January 2016 and launched a national book tour in 2017. Id. ¶¶ 56-57. Everson appeared on Fox News in November 2017, and with her attorney, held a press conference the next month, to discuss the sexual harassment she had experienced during her fellowship. See id. ¶¶ 59, 61. At the press conference, Everson mentioned Scott by name and spoke of the "CBCF's continual work to silence and blackball her." Id. ¶ 61.

Everson alleges that the CBCF continued its campaign of retaliation against her by working to minimize the success of her tour and "silence her and financially assassinate her." Id. ¶ 65. For example, Everson alleges that an engagement with the Women's Democratic Network² in November 2017 was "mysteriously cancelled" after she posted notice of the event on social media. Id. ¶ 57. She also claims that at the Essence Festival in July 2017, Scott "entered the bookstore . . . in the Ernest Morial Convention Center, alone and stood grimacing [at] Ms.Everson as she signed books and talked to customers[.]" Id. ¶ 58. And she alleges that Burke, Scott's friend, "slander[ed]" her in December 2017 and attended her speaking engagement in May 2018 "to intimidate her." Id. ¶¶ 62-63. Finally, Everson was invited to speak on a panel sponsored by the Oracle Group International ("Oracle Group") and hosted by Angel Livas in September 2018, during the CBCF Annual Legislative Conference. Id. ¶ 64. Despite Everson's participation in other events, including the CBCF's Annual Legislative Conference in 2017, Everson alleges that Livas told her she had been "un-invited" from the panel "because she had a lawsuit filed against a CBC Member (which wasn't true)." Id. Further, Everson alleged that Livas's radio interview of her, which was supposed to air around the same time in September 2018, "was . . . pulled" because of CBCF retaliation. Id. ¶ 65.

B. Procedural Background

In October 2014, Everson filed a...