Robinson v. Sinclair Broad. Grp., Inc.

182 F.Supp.3d 742

Regena Robinson, Plaintiff,

v.Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Inc., and Chesapeake Media I, LLC, Defendants.

Case No. 2:15-CV-62

United States District Court, W.D. Michigan, Northern Division.

Signed April 22, 2016

Heidi Theresa Sharp, Syeda Farhana Davidson, Burgess Sharp & Golden, PLLC, Clinton Township, MI, for Plaintiff.

David William Schelberg, Joseph Abraham Starr, Starr Butler Alexopoulos & Stoner PLLC, Southfield, MI, for Defendants.

OPINION

GORDON J. QUIST, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Plaintiff, Regena Robinson, is an African-American woman who was previously the news director for WLUC, a television station in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. During the majority of Robinson's tenure at WLUC, the station was owned by Barrington Broadcasting, LLC (Barrington), which is not a party to this action. In February 2013, Defendant Sinclair Broadcasting Group (SBG) entered into an asset purchase agreement for WLUC and closed the agreement in November 2013. In January 2014, Robinson complained to SBG management that she had been subject to harassment based on her race and gender. Robinson delivered many documents to SBG, but two days later, Robinson resigned. Robinson has sued SBG and its subsidiary, Chesapeake Media, LLC (Chesapeake), which is the holding company for WLUC, alleging that she was subject to a hostile work environment based on her race and gender in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. , and Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA), M.C.L. § 37.2101 et seq .

Defendants have moved for summary judgment. On April 18, 2016, this Court heard oral argument. For the reasons stated in this Opinion, this Court grants the motion.

Background

The facts are set forth in the light most favorable to Robinson.

On August 8, 2011, Robinson began working as the news director for WLUC, a television station in the Upper Peninsula owned by Barrington. (ECF No. 36-3 at Page ID.150-52.) At that time, and throughout her tenure at WLUC, Robert Jamros was the station's general manager and Robinson's supervisor. (ECF No. 36-5 at Page ID.356; ECF No. 36-3 at Page ID.152.) As the news director, Robinson supervised a staff of approximately 20 employees. (ECF No. 36-3 at Page ID.152.)

Robinson's second-in-command was Steve Asplund, the assistant news director. (ECF No. 38-34 at Page ID.958.) On Robinson's first day of work, Asplund told Robinson that she should enter through the back door so that her staff could see her when she arrived. (ECF No. 38-2 at Page ID.522; ECF No. 38-32 at Page ID.960.) Robinson reported Asplund's statement to Jamros, who told her to be a team player and walk through the back door. (ECF No. 38-2 at Page ID.523.)

Shortly after Robinson began working at WLUC, someone began entering her office when she was not there and taking photographs and other items from the office. (ECF No. 38-3 at Page ID.547-48.) Sometime in late 2011, Robinson told Jamros about the issue, and Jamros initially did nothing about it. (Id. ) In October 2012, however, after someone drained the water out of flowers in Robinson's office, Jamros agreed to change the locks in Robinson's office. (Id. )

During Robinson's tenure at WLUC, Jamros made several comments to her that alluded to race. On one occasion, Jamros said that Robinson had an Afro. (ECF No. 38-2 at Page ID.531.) On another occasion, Jamros told Robinson that "you all with dark skin look the same." (Id. ) Jamros once told a news consultant that Robinson did not look like a news director, and that the previous director looked like the news consultant (who was a white male). (Id. ) Finally, Jamros once told Robinson that she only looked at the same ethnic group when hiring positions. (Id. at Page ID.532.)

During 2012 and 2013, there was consistent conflict between Robinson and Jamros.

• On April 24, 2012, Robinson told Barrington's human resources department that she was being mistreated by Jamros based on her race and gender. (ECF No. 38-20 at Page ID.860; ECF No. 38-2 at Page ID.529.)

• On April 25, 2012, Jamros interviewed members of Robinson's staff because it appeared that there was a lack of harmony within the news department. (ECF No. 38-23 at Page ID.923.) After completing those interviews, Jamros met with Robinson and completed an interim performance comment form (IPCF) for Robinson's file criticizing Robinson's leadership. (Id. )

• On May 2, 2012, Jamros met with Robinson and several of her senior staff members. (ECF No. 36-11 at Page ID.392.) Following that meeting, Jamros told Robinson that she had to improve her management. (Id. )

• In August 2012, Robinson complained to Barrington's senior management that her predecessor, who was supposed to stay in the newsroom for a one-month transition period after Robinson took over, was still in the newsroom one year later. (ECF No. 38-2 at Page ID.553-54.)

• In August 2012, Jamros interviewed Robinson's staff and met with Robinson about her management problems. (ECF NO. 38-36 at Page ID.1006.) He completed an IPCF documenting that meeting. (Id. )

• On January 15, 2013, Jamros filed an IPCF stating that Robinson was insubordinate in a staff meeting, and that he had told her that he would fire her if she ever did it again. (ECF No. 38-38 at Page ID.1011.)

• On February 4, 2013, Robinson complained to Barrington's human resources department that Jamros and Asplund were mistreating her because she was an African-American woman. Shortly thereafter, Robinson voiced the same complaint to Barrington's President, Chris Cornelius. (ECF No. 38-17 at Page ID.840.) Cornelius held a meeting with Jamros and Asplund, and later changed Asplund's schedule so that he worked at different times than Robinson. (ECF No. 38-3 at Page ID.634.)

• In September 2013, Jamros reversed the change to Asplund's schedule in spite of Robinson's protests. Jamros told Robinson to stop being so emotional. (ECF No.38-17 at Page ID.842.)

On February 28, 2013, Sinclair Television Group (STG), a wholly owned subsidiary of SBG, entered into an asset purchase agreement to purchase WLUC assets from Barrington. (ECF No. 38-8.) The contract provided that STG would assume certain liabilities related to employees, but STG did not generally assume liabilities related to employment disputes. (Id. ; ECF No. 36-2 at Page ID.143.) On March 11, 2013, SBG created Chesapeake to serve as a holding company for WLUC. (Id. ) On November 22, 2013, STG took over operation of WLUC. (ECF No. 36-2 at Page ID.143.) The takeover did not substantially affect WLUC's business, and most employees maintained their positions and duties. (Id. )

In December 2013, Jamros completed an IPCF stating that Robinson had put a segment on the news against Jamros's instruction. (ECF No. 38-42 at Page ID.1024.) Later that month, Jamros raised concerns about Robinson with SBG's human resources director, Allison Kiniry, and SBG's regional manager, Chris Manson. (ECF No. 38-3 at Page ID.639.) On January 2, 2013, Asplund submitted a form through SBG's intranet site calling into question Robinson's leadership. (ECF No. 38-46 at Page ID.1035.)

On January 7, 2014, Kiniry and Manson held a phone call with Robinson and Jamros to discuss Robinson's performance. (ECF No. 38-3 at Page ID.639.) During that call, Robinson complained that she had been harassed based on her race and gender and that she was in the process of putting together an EEOC complaint. (ECF No. 38-21 at Page ID.867.) Robinson told Kiniry that she was uncomfortable meeting with Jamros alone, and Kiniry responded that Robinson and Jamros should not meet without a human resources representative present. (Id. at Page ID.871.)

Although she did not discuss it during the phone call, Robinson had received an anonymous letter earlier that morning that made hateful and threatening remarks based on Robinson's race and gender. (ECF No. 38-21 at Page ID.871-72.) Two other WLUC employees received similar letters. (Id. ) Robinson did not know who sent letter. (Id. )

The day after the January 7, 2014 meeting, Jamros walked into Robinson's office and asked to discuss the previous day's call. (ECF No. 38-21 at Page ID.878-79.) Robinson told Jamros that they were not supposed to meet without a human resources representative present. (Id. ) Jamros did not immediately leave Robinson's office, however, so Robinson left. (Id. ) During the remainder of that day and the following day, Robinson sent Kiniry and Manson several emails notifying them that Jamros had come into her office and attempting to support her allegations of harassment. (ECF No. 36-20 at Page ID.421-22; ECF No. 36-21 at Page ID.424-27.)

On January 10, 2014, Robinson resigned from WLUC by letter. (ECF No. 38-50 at Page ID.1049.) Although Robinson said that she would stay until January 30, Kiniry told Robinson that it would be best if she did not work after January 10 (although she was paid through January 30). (Id. ) Following Robinson's resignation, Kiniry conducted an investigation of Robinson's allegations and concluded that they were unsubstantiated. (ECF No. 38-51 at Page ID.1051-53.)

Legal Standard

Summary judgment is appropriate if there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56. Material facts are facts which are defined by substantive law and are necessary to apply the law. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. , 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A dispute is genuine if a reasonable jury could return judgment for the non-moving party. Id. The court must draw all inferences in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, but may grant summary judgment when "the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party." Agristor Fin. Corp. v. Van Sickle , 967 F.2d 233, 236 (6th Cir.1992) (quoting Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp. , 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986) ).

Discu...