Phillips v. WakeMed

ORDER

RICHARD E. MYERS II, CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.

This matter is before the court on Defendant's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(c). [DE 15]. Defendant contends that Plaintiff fails to state any plausible claim for relief under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. Plaintiff counters that her allegations, taken as true, are sufficient to state plausible claims against the Defendant. For the reasons that follow, Defendant's motion is granted.

I. Background

A. Plaintiffs Factual Allegations

The following are factual allegations (as opposed to statements of bare legal conclusions, unwarranted deductions of fact, or unreasonable inferences) made by Ms. Phillips in the operative Complaint [DE 1], which the court must accept as true at this stage of the proceedings pursuant to King v. Rubenstein, 825 F.3d 206, 212 (4th Cir. 2016). Ms. Phillips's Complaint also includes 25 exhibits and where an allegation conflicts with an attached exhibit, "the exhibit prevails."

Goines v. Valley Cmty. Servs. Bd., 822 F.3d 159, 166 (4th Cir. 2016) ("[I]n the event of conflict between the bare allegations of the complaint and any exhibit attached ..., the exhibit prevails."). ^[1]

Plaintiff Latoya Phillips is an African-American registered nurse with fourteen years of experience in direct patient care, nursing float pools, and nationwide traveling nurse contracts. Compl. at ¶ 7. Defendant WakeMed employed Ms. Phillips twice before re-hiring her for a third time in April 2019 as a registered nurse floater. Id. at ¶¶ 8-11. She worked at WakeMed's three campuses on a full-time or overtime schedule. Ms. Phillips alleges that throughout her employment, she was surrounded by mostly Caucasian nurses. Id. at ¶ 13.

That summer, Ms. Phillips began complaining to management about her job. On July 6, 2019, she emailed Kim Perdue, Staffing Resources Manager, to complain about "Staffer Kate" (last name unknown) who had cancelled Ms. Phillips's shifts back-to-back. Id. at ¶ 14 (Exhibit 1). On July 15, 2019, Ms. Phillips emailed Sharon McDonald, a nurse supervisor, and Ms. Perdue regarding staffing issues on two shifts that impacted nurse floats. Id. at ¶ 16 (Exhibit 2).

In October 2019, management received a complaint that Ms. Phillips wrongfully "dosed" a patient. On October 15, Beth Southerland, manager, reported Ms. Phillips to the Staffing Resources department for giving a patient morphine without a specific order, and Ms. Phillips received a written reprimand. Id. at ¶ 17. The next day, Ms. McDonald emailed Ms. Phillips requesting an explanation. Ms. Phillips explained that the on-call physician ordered the Morphine

I.V. (delivered intravenously) because the patient could not take medicine orally. Id. at ¶ 18 (Exhibit 3). At the end of October, Ms. Phillips received an email thanking her and a fellow nurse for excellent patient care during a shift. Id. at ¶ 19.

Throughout November and December, however, Ms. Phillips continued to experience problems with cancelled shifts. On November 19, 2019, she complained to Ms. Perdue about several work shifts that Staffer Kate had cancelled. Compl. at ¶ 20 (Exhibit 4). Ms. Phillips was concerned about job stability and meeting her hour requirements. She also noticed that her shifts were cancelled more often than other white employees and without explanation. Id. However, her email states only that these cancellations are "more noticeable than any other staffer" and "when Kate cancels she only puts in comments canceled. Whereas some of the other staffers may list due to low census which shows the reason." Compl. (Exhibit 4).

Ms. Phillips next protested complex cases WakeMed assigned her, and complained she was not receiving adequate support from the nurse "leadership." Id. at ¶ 22. She attempted to discuss her issues with Ms. Perdue, and also expressed concerns to nurse supervisors, Ms. McDonald and Camille Scronce. Id. Ms. Perdue refused to listen to Ms. Phillips's concerns, stating "no, I don't want to hear it, Latoya." She accused Ms. Phillips of "always being involved in difficult patient cases" and stated, "it always seems to be you." Id. at ¶ 23. Ms. Perdue threatened, "if [she] hears Latoya's name involved in a difficult patient's case again, [she] will automatically discipline her." Id. Ms. Perdue then sent Ms. Phillips an Action Plan during the last week of December 2019 that Ms. Phillips alleges contained false statements about her. Id. at ¶ 24.

At the end of December, Ms. Phillips emailed Ms. Perdue requesting a meeting about possible permanent positions with benefits. Id. at ¶ 25. Ms. Perdue responded that there were no full-time positions available, and she did not foresee any openings in the next few months. Id. at ¶ 26

(Exhibit 5). Following the discussion, however, Ms. Phillips saw several job openings on WakeMed's job sites. Id. at ¶ 27.

On January 3, 2020, Ms. Phillips emailed Maria Nunez, Employee Relations, regarding a pattern of emails from nursing units blaming her for patient issues and making false claims about her. Id. at ¶ 28 (Exhibit 6). The eight-page email details her "difficult patients" and her disagreement with the complaints about her job performance. Id. Then, during her January 5, 2020 shift, Ms. Phillips alleges that she did not receive proper support from WakeMed. The assigned float unit did not provide her with the medical machines and supplies she needed, and she alleges she was falsely accused of being a problem nurse after completing tasks that should have been completed before her arrival. Id. at ¶ 29. As a result of her conduct on that shift, Ms. Phillips was sent home early. Id. On January 15, 2020, she informed Ms. Perdue that she was in the process of interviewing for a benefited full-time position within WakeMed but after emailing Ms. Perdue, Ms. Phillips never heard back from the hiring manager or recruiter, even though positions remained available. Id. at ¶ 30. At the end of the month, Ms. Phillips received a second Action Plan she believes contained false accusations about her attitude and behavior. Id. at ¶ 31.

At Ms. Perdue's direction, on February 2, 2020, Ms. Phillips attended a WakeMed "compassion in action" class. She was the only float nurse asked to attend. Id. at ¶ 32. The next day, Ms. Phillips sent Ms. Nunez an email expressing concerns about Staffing Resources and requesting assurance that if she made such reports to Human Resources it would not leave her in a negative position with Staffing Resources. Id. at ¶ 33. Ms. Nunez assured her it would not, and forwarded the email to Ms. Perdue and Sandra Wheaton, Director of Staffing Resources, for review. Id. On February 26, 2020, Ms. Phillips emailed Ms. Scronce, Ms. Perdue, and Ms. McDonald to explain an issue with a new patient "admit" from February 22, 2020: Ms. Phillips

had not properly placed a precaution sign outside the patient's room and a lab technician entered without a surgical mask. Id. at ¶ 35 (Exhibit 10).

On March 4, 2020, Ms. Phillips interviewed with Kellie Babson for a permanent full-time position at WakeMed North but she never heard back, despite multiple vacancies. Id. at ¶ 36. On March 24, 2020, Plaintiff reached out to Sabrina Jones (position unknown) inquiring about any need for full-time nurses in her unit. Id. at ¶ 37.

Ms. Phillips alleges that on March 26, 2020, she was wrongfully blamed for incomplete tasks, she was never advised by the day nurse that there were unfinished tasks she needed to complete, and no one else was reported for not completing their tasks. Id. at ¶ 38. Specifically, a white nurse, "John," was never written up for not completing his assigned tasks that day. Id. Instead, WakeMed blamed Ms. Phillips for John's incomplete tasks. As a result, Ms. Phillips received a write up. No. other float nurses in the same unit were disciplined for similar issues. Id. On the same day, Ms. Phillips emailed Ms. Scronce, Ms. Perdue, and Ms. McDonald responding to two allegations of her poor job performance: failure to notify a nurse and failure to remove a patient's catheter. Ms. Phillips provided an explanation for each episode. Id. at ¶ 39 (Exhibit 11). She also followed up on April 14, 2020, emailing Ms. Scronce regarding her employment concerns and stating she would not meet with Staffing Resources unless an assigned employee relations specialist attended. Id. at ¶ 40 (Exhibit 12).

On April 20, 2020, WakeMed issued Ms. Phillips a Level 1 Disciplinary Action Form. Id. at ¶ 41 (Exhibit 13). The form alleged Ms. Phillips did not complete tasks for three of her four patients on her March 18, 2020 shift. Id. The same day, Ms. Phillips filed her first Official Grievance and emailed Ms. Wheaton and Ms. Nunez confirming submission. Id. at ¶ 42 (Exhibit 14). Ms. Phillips's grievance alleged poor treatment despite following the chain of command, no

opportunity to explain her experiences on the units where she received disciplinary actions, and unfair treatment by WakeMed. She also requested a transfer. Id. Ms. Wheaton responded asking to schedule a meeting with Ms. Phillips about her grievance. Id. at ¶ 43.

On May 11, 2020, Ms. Phillips emailed Ms. Nunez requesting a response to her grievance. She reported continued shift cancellations and lack of direct communication with management. Id. at ¶ 45 (Exhibit 15). The next day, Ms. Phillips emailed Cindy Boily, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, about her grievance. She informed Ms. Boily that Ms. Scronce had verbally told her, "you are to blame on all three campuses," and she attached a copy of her filed grievance. Id. at ¶ 46 (Exhibit 16). Ms. Boily upheld the Level 1...