Prescott v. Bd. of Supervisors of the Univ. of La. Sys.

MICHAEL PRESCOTT v. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA SYSTEM

CIVIL ACTION NO: 13-5984

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA

September 26, 2014

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE KAREN WELLS ROBY

ORDER & REASONS

Before the Court is a Motion for Summary Judgment (R. Doc. 21) filed by Defendant, the Board of Supervisors of the University of Louisiana System ("Board"), seeking summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, dismissing Plaintiff, Michael Prescott's Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq., claims. See R. Doc. 21. The motion is opposed. See R. Doc. 30. It was heard on the briefs on August 13, 2014. See R. Doc. 28.

I. Background

A. Summary

Prescott, a white male, filed this lawsuit against his former employer the Board of Supervisors of Southeastern University¹ ("Board") a part of the of Louisiana System, pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 2000e ("Title VII"), for the alleged reverse racial discrimination he experienced when he was investigated and ultimately terminated after complaining about an African American subordinate, Angela Jones. See R. Doc. 1. Prescottalleges that he was ultimately labeled a racist due to his attempts to manage Angela Jones, an "out of control" employee. See id. Prescott alleges that Angela Jones repeatedly made false allegations against him and despite these allegations he was told that he had no authority to discipline her. See id. Rather, Prescott alleges that he was investigated and later terminated, which he suggests is the result of racially based favoritism. See id. Prescott alleges that Jones was insubordinate and also lodged false allegations against him regarding threats of harm he allegedly made in response to the complaints he made about her non-compliance with policy. See id.

B. Factual Background

Prescott, after retiring from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, was hired by Southeastern Louisiana University ("SLU") as a police officer in November 2003. See R. Doc. 30-3, p. 1. In 2005, Prescott was promoted to Director of the SLU Police Department, which is an unclassified at-will position. Id.

As Director of the SLU Police Department, Prescott's trusted administrative assistant was Brandi Rogers, a white female. Rogers was responsible for managing the payroll for the police department. In 2009, during a routine legislative audit, the auditor found that the university failed to comply with the overtime payroll policy because Rogers had accumulated excessive amounts of overtime. See R. Doc. 30-9, p. 5. As a result of the audit, Prescott was advised by Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Marvin Yates, an African American male, that he should no longer allow Rogers to handle the department's payroll. See R. Doc. 21-3 (Prescott Dep. 21:17-22:11, June 3, 2014).

Following the audit, the police department's payroll was designated to an individual in the department to handle on a full time basis. See R. Doc. 21-3 (Prescott Dep. 17:9-16, June 3, 2014). The police department had difficulty retaining an employee to do payroll. See id. (Prescott Dep. 17:18-21:10, June 3, 2014). In 2011, with the approval of Dr. Yates, Prescott reassigned the payroll to Rogers, his administrative assistant. See id. (Prescott Dep. 22:16-23:16, June 3, 2014). Dr. Yates instructed Prescott that Rogers was not to do her own payroll. See id. (Prescott Dep. 23:14-16, June 3, 2014).

In the fall of 2011, Angela Jones, an African American female, was a parking guard in the SLU Police Department. Jones applied for a Police Officer 1-A position within the parking division, but was not originally selected by Prescott. See R. Doc. 30-3, p. 6. A hiring board appointed by Prescott and consisting of five Police Department employees reviewed the five applicants for the Police Officer 1-A position and agreed to offer the position to Donald Freeman, a white male with 15 years of law enforcement experience. Id. at 7.

The day after learning she did not get the job, Jones filed a grievance alleging she was not promoted due to her race, African American.² See R. Doc. 30-9. p. 14. After receiving Jones' grievance, Prescott met with the university's Director of Human Resources, Kevin Brady, also a white male, to discuss Jones' grievance. See R. Doc. 21-6, pp. 1-2. Brady recommended that Jones be promoted to resolve the grievance and also as a result of the affirmative action statistics within the Police Department. Id.

Thereafter, seemingly unsatisfied, Prescott met with Dr. Yates, an African American male, and the university's EEOC officer, Gene Pregeant, a white male.³ See R. Doc. 21-3 (Prescott Dep. 85:10-25, June 3, 2014). Dr. Yates and Pregeant also recommended that Prescott promote Jones. Id. at 86. Prescott suggests that the decision to promote Jones, the African American female, to the Police Officer 1-A position was really made by Dr. Yates, the African American male.⁴ Id.

While the grievance process was occurring for Jones, Freeman decided to decline the position because the salary offered was less than he earned at his previous job. See R. Doc. 21-6, p. 2. In response to Freeman's decision and in an effort to be a team a player, Prescott sent an email to Human Resources indicating that he wanted to offer the Police Officer 1-A position to Jones because she was his next choice after Freeman. See R. Doc. 30-9, p. 20; see also R. Doc. 21-3 (Prescott Dep. 82:15-16, June 3, 2014). However, Prescott stated that the position was to be subject to her working initially on a probation period. See R. Doc. 30-9, p. 20.

Brady, the Director of Human Resources, advised Prescott that his treatment of Jones was different than his treatment of two other employees who were promoted to permanent promotions without being required to serve in a probationary capacity. Id. at 19. As a result, Prescott's request to place Jones on probationary status was denied and Prescott was instructed to hire her as a permanent employee. See R. Doc. 21-6, p. 2.

After acquiescing in the hiring of Jones, Prescott contends that he was subject to harassment by his subordinate, Jones. He alleges that: (1) the week after she was hired she refused to answer the phone when he called the department; (2) in March 2012 she decided not to come to work; and (3) she left work without prior approval and without calling in sick in violation of policy.

According to Prescott, after Jones was written up for her noncompliance with policy, she lodged a complaint of harassment and retaliation against him and her immediate supervisor Sgt. Kevin Knudsen, also a white male. See R. Doc. 30-9, p. 87. Jones thereafter began to complain to different members of the department that she was afraid that Prescott was going to "send his henchmen to flatten her tires," "bomb her car like the Taliban," that she "did not trust Prescott," "that other employees were allowed to take FMLA leave and she wasn't," and that "Prescott was trying to poison her." When Prescott reprimanded Jones for her noncompliance with policy, she routinely filed a grievance. She went so far as to threaten to file a grievance because Sgt. Knudsen hired another white male officer and in her view the department did not have enough minority officers.

In April 2012, Jones filed an EEOC complaint alleging that Prescott harassed her based upon her race. Shortly thereafter, Sgt. Knudsen requested that an investigation be opened to address Jones' allegation that he and Prescott were harassing her. See R. Doc. 30-9, p. 89.

On April 7, 2012, Jones under the alter ego of Mimi Templeton emailed Dr. Crain and cc'd Dr. Yates declaring that Brandi Rogers, Prescott's administrative assistant, stole $16,000 from an employee's bank account and did so while at work and using a university computer. See R. Doc. 21-3 (Prescott Dep. 137:1-21); see also R. Doc. 30-10, p. 39 (email from MimiTempleton). In the email, Jones stated that Prescott knew about Rogers theft but refused to take action. Prescott later learned that Mimi Templeton was a character in a novel written by O'Neil DeNoux.

In May 2012, while the challenges continued between Jones and Prescott, and after Dr. Yates received the email from Jones' alter ego Mimi Templeton, Dr. Yates directed his assistant, Rebecca Johnson, to conduct a routine check of the overtime hours for the department's employees. During the routine check she noticed that there were very high overtime hours for the weekends. See R. Doc. 21-5. Thereafter Dr. Yates called Prescott to meet with him in his office on May 8, 2012. Prescott later confirmed after reviewing the records that the weekend hours were unusually high such that he described them as "way abundant" and "horrific." See R. Doc. 21-3 (Prescott Dep. 30:24-31:3 June 3, 2014). Dr. Yates advised Prescott that he became aware of the overtime hours because his assistant Rebecca Johnson conducted a review of the payroll and noticed the disparity. See id. (Prescott Dep. 153:23-25; 154:1-16, June 3, 2014). Prescott thereafter had a departmental investigator review video from the weekend to determine if Rogers actually worked and it was determined that she had not. See id. (Prescott Dep. 31:3-9, June 3, 2014).

On May 9, 2012, Jones filed another grievance with Human Resources alleging that since she was promoted Prescott and Sgt. Knudsen were harassing her by repeatedly investigating her, writing her up, and yelling at her in front of students. See R. Doc. 30-11, p. 70; see also R. Doc. 21-3 (Prescott Dep. 154:18-25, June 3, 2014). Jones filed two additional complaints with the Safety Department and Health Department. See R. Doc. 21-3 (Prescott Dep. 155:1-15, June 3, 2014).

An investigation of Jones' complaint was conducted regarding Sgt. Knudsen by Lieutenant Patrick Gipson. See R. Doc. 30-10, p. 29. Lt. Gipson concluded that while Jones believed what she was saying, that did not make it true. Id. at 36-37. He further concluded that Knudsen had not harassed her and...