Kennedy v. Reid Hosp. & Health Care Servs., Inc.

279 F.Supp.3d 819

Stacy KENNEDY, Plaintiff,

v.REID HOSPITAL & HEALTH CARE SERVICES, INC., and Reid Outpatient Surgery and Endoscopy LLC, Defendants.

Case No. 1:15–cv–01340–TWP–MPB

United States District Court, S.D. Indiana, Indianapolis Division.

Signed September 7, 2017

Richard L. Darst, Cohen Garelick & Glazier, Indianapolis, IN, for Plaintiff.

Eileen P.H. Moore, Tami A. Earnhart, Ice Miller LLP, Indianapolis, IN, for Defendants.

ENTRY ON MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

TANYA WALTON PRATT, JUDGE

This matter is before the Court on Motions for Summary Judgment filed pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 by Defendants Reid Hospital and Health Care Services, Inc. ("Reid") (Filing No. 55 ) and Reid Outpatient Surgery and Endoscopy, LLC ("ROSE") (Filing No. 58 ). After experiencing discrimination, harassment, and retaliation at the hands of coworkers and supervisors at Reid and ROSE, Plaintiff Stacy Kennedy ("Kennedy") was pressured into leaving her position as a nurse at Reid and ROSE. She initiated this lawsuit, asserting claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation on the basis of race and disability under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e ("Title VII"), the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (" Section 1981"), and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 ("ADA"). Reid and ROSE each ask for summary judgment, arguing that Kennedy did not suffer an adverse employment action, and she cannot support a prima facie case for her claims. For the following reasons, the Court grants in part and denies in part Reid's Motion and grants ROSE's Motion.

I. BACKGROUND

The following facts are not necessarily objectively true, but, as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, the facts are presented in the light most favorable to Kennedy as the non-moving party. See Zerante v. DeLuca , 555 F.3d 582, 584 (7th Cir. 2009) ; Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. , 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

A. Discrimination and Harassment at Reid Orthopedic Surgery Center

Kennedy is an African–American female who has been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. Her son and daughter have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ("ADHD") and other learning disabilities (Filing No. 86–5 at 43–44).

In October 2011, Kennedy began working as a registered nurse for Tower Specialty Surgery. Tower Specialty Surgery was acquired by Reid and began operating as Reid Orthopedic Surgery Center ("ROC") in July 2012. Kennedy was the only African–American employee at ROC (Filing No. 86–1 at 1 ). She worked thirty-two to forty hours per week, but did not have a set schedule. Kennedy's supervisor was charge nurse Kim Padgett ("Padgett"). After Padgett left Reid in December 2012, Misty Harrison ("Harrison") became the charge nurse and was Kennedy's direct supervisor. Kennedy's next level supervisor was Leslie Ramsey ("Ramsey") (Filing No. 86–5 at 5–6). Kennedy had positive work performance reviews, which noted that she was meeting Reid's expectations and had a good attitude (Filing No. 86–13 ).

When Tower Specialty Surgery was her employer, Kennedy had been permitted to leave early on Wednesdays to take her son to therapy appointments. However, after Reid acquired the business, Kennedy was given a hard time about taking a day off or leaving early on Wednesdays for her son's therapy appointments. If she could not leave work early, her son would have to miss his appointment unless Kennedy could arrange for somebody else to take him. On one occasion, Padgett refused to let Kennedy leave early to take her daughter to the doctor when she was sick, so she had to reschedule the appointment with the doctor. Padgett would not allow Kennedy to adjust her schedule to attend to her children's needs. In contrast, Padgett freely allowed Harrison, a white nurse, to take time off or to adjust her schedule to attend to her child's needs (Filing No. 86–1 at 1 ).

Kennedy noted several differences in how she was treated compared to the white nurses. For example, Padgett allowed Harrison to determine her own work schedule, but scheduled Kennedy to come in early to work on Harrison's charting responsibilities. Harrison and Padgett would cover for each other so that they could take restroom and lunch breaks, but they would not cover for Kennedy when she needed to take breaks (Filing No. 86–5 at 12; Filing No. 86–1 at 1–2).

In late July 2012, within weeks of starting at Reid, Kennedy complained about this discriminatory treatment to her next level supervisor Ramsey, but Ramsey did not do anything to address these issues. (Filing No. 86–1 at 2. ) Sometime between August and October 2012, Kennedy complained to Tina Johnson in Reid's human resources department about the discriminatory scheduling practice and difficulty in getting coverage so that she could take lunch and restroom breaks. Rather than investigating or addressing the problems, Johnson told Kennedy to raise the issues with Ramsey or someone else (Filing No. 86–5 at 13, 19).

Kennedy complained again to Ramsey about the discriminatory treatment in October 2012, and Ramsey held a staff meeting and explained that the scheduling needed to be fair and consistent. Padgett appeared mad and upset about the meeting. She did not do anything to change the schedule; rather, she continued to allow Harrison to pick her own schedule and required Kennedy to cover for Harrison when she needed to leave work early. After the meeting, Padgett did begin to help with circulating responsibilities (Filing No. 86–1 at 3; Filing No. 86–5 at 13 ). However, Harrison stopped helping Kennedy in the operating room, and she began printing quotes that were humiliating to Kennedy and taping them to a shared computer (Filing No. 86–1 at 3 ).

At the end of December 2012, Padgett left Reid. Harrison was promoted to be the charge nurse in ROC and became Kennedy's direct supervisor. Soon thereafter, in April 2013, Harrison transferred to the emergency room, and Ramsey asked Kennedy to be the interim charge nurse in ROC. Id. at 4. Kennedy was hesitant to accept the position, telling Ramsey that making her the charge nurse would give other nurses, Melodye Dodson ("Dodson") and Donna Roberts ("Roberts"), more of a reason to harass her. Id. Despite her concerns, Kennedy accepted the position.

In April 2013, Reid hired Dawn Ulm ("Ulm") as a circulating nurse to work in ROC three days a week, and hired Amber Welin ("Welin") (who had been working for Reid on an "as needed" basis) to work in ROC four days a week. Kennedy had previously requested that Ramsey allow her to work a four-day work week instead of a five-day week, but Ramsey had denied her requests. Id.

In her role as the charge nurse, Kennedy had the responsibility of setting the work schedule for the other nurses. Whenever Dodson and Roberts did not like their work schedule, they simply changed their schedule. When Kennedy complained about this problem to Ramsey, nothing was done to address the problem or require Dodson and Roberts to respect Kennedy's authority as the charge nurse. Ramsey also would not allow Kennedy to set the schedule for Ulm and Welin without asking them what days and times they wanted to work (Filing No. 86–1 at 4–5).

In April or May 2013, Kennedy directed Dodson and Roberts to stop ‘spiking’ (a process of preparing in advance) IV fluid bags and leaving them in the warmer overnight because this practice could cause bacteria to grow faster and increase infection rates. Dodson and Roberts told Kennedy that she was stupid and refused to stop the practice because they had "been doing it [that] way forever." Kennedy reported the incident to Ramsey, but Ramsey did nothing. Roberts and Dodson refused to follow Kennedy's directions as the charge nurse (Filing No. 86–5 at 9 ).

On April 1, 2013, Kennedy went to her doctor for treatment for anxiety and depression and reported that her son has ADD and she was under a lot of pressure at work. (Filing No. 86–12 at 1 ). She was prescribed CELEXA. Later that month, Kennedy overheard a surgical technician, Natasha Adams, comment on Kennedy's disability. Adams said to two co-workers, "Did you see how Stacy was working today? It was like she was someone else, working all fast. I think she's bipolar." Kennedy did not report this comment to anyone (Filing No. 86–5 at 26 ).

In May 2013, Roberts told Harrison (who was no longer working in ROC) that Kennedy was talking about her, which was not true. That night Harrison sent a harassing text message to Kennedy. She reported the incident to Ramsey the next morning, but Ramsey never said anything to Roberts about making up a story that led to Kennedy being harassed. In late June 2013, Kennedy complained that she was not receiving charge nurse pay like the white charge nurses. Only after her complaint did Reid increase her pay to the charge nurse level, applying it retroactively to April 2013 (Filing No. 86–1 at 5; Filing No. 86–11 at 1 ).

On three occasions in August and September 2013, Dodson commented about people with disabilities. She stated that a boy taking medication for ADHD "just needs a good smack upside his head." Id. at 10. When Kennedy told Dodson that ADHD is a real condition and that her son has it, Dodson commented that, if a kid is bad, it is because the parents are bad and lazy. Dodson made more comments about a patient with ADHD a few weeks later. She went out of her way to leave the area where she was working, put on a hat and shoe covers to be able to go into the operating room where Kennedy was located, and made derogatory comments to Kennedy about ADHD. Kennedy again asked Dodson to stop making derogatory comments about ADHD. Kennedy reported the incident to Ramsey. Ramsey indicated that Dodson had already told her about it and that she would not make the comments again. Within a month or two, Dodson again made multiple comments about patients with mental health...