Robinson v. UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside

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ROXANNE ROBINSON, Plaintiff, v. UPMC PRESBYTERIAN SHADYSIDE and INFECTIOUS DISEASE CONNECT, INC., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 22-29

United States District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania

February 22, 2024

MEMORANDUM OPINION

NORA BARRY FISCHER, SENIOR U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE

I. INTRODUCTION

In this employment law case, Plaintiff Roxanne Robinson (“Robinson” or “Plaintiff”) alleges that Defendants Infections Disease Connect (“ID Connect”) and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian Shadyside (“UPMC”) discriminated against her based on her age and race and that she was retaliated against for complaining about the discrimination. (Docket No. 29). Presently before the Court are three contested motions for summary judgment filed by Robinson, ID Connect, and UPMC which have been fully briefed and were argued at a motion hearing on September 18, 2023. (Docket Nos. 61-72; 75-80; 84; 85-86; 88; 98). The Court has since received and reviewed the official transcript of the proceeding and issued two rulings on objections to the admissibility of certain evidence as to the pending motion. (Docket Nos. 93; 102; 105). After careful consideration of the parties' arguments and the evidence presented in light of the standards governing motions for summary judgment, and for the following reasons, Robinson's motion [61] is denied, UPMC's motion [65] is granted, in part and denied, in part, and ID Connect's motion [69] is granted, in part and denied, in part.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

ID Connect is a virtual telemedicine company which was the brainchild of two UPMC doctors, Rima Abdel-Massih and John Mellors. (Docket No. 76 at 3). They started the company within UPMC's Division of Infectious Disease but later created their own commercial entity. (Id.). UPMC Enterprises fully funded the new venture and, as of July 31 2023, still owned around forty percent of the company. (Id; Docket No. 64 at 1-2).

After its founding, ID Connect remained affiliated with UPMC. For a fee, it operated out of UPMC facilities and used UPMC computers. (Docket Nos. 63-20 at 19:7-13; 64 at 2). ID Connect entered into a Master Administrative Services Agreement (“MASA”) with UPMC under which the latter performed various administrative services for ID Connect such as “general corporate services, including legal and advisory, and general and dedicated human resources services, as well as payroll and benefits.” (Docket No. 76 at 2). And, as of January 2023, all of ID Connect's physicians were hired through UPMC and provided clinical care at UPMC sites. (Docket No. 64 at 5).

Roxanne Robinson, an African American woman, began working for ID Connect in September 2019, at the age of 60. (Docket No. 80 at 1-2). Robinson is a high school graduate. (Docket No. 72-5 at 4). She studied communications at the University of Pittsburgh but did not earn a degree. (Id.; Docket No. 81-17 at ¶ 33). The company's CEO, David Zynn, recruited Robinson to join ID Connect as a credentialing specialist.^[1] (Docket No. 80 at 2). At the time of her hire, Robinson had been working in healthcare for about fourteen years, thirteen of which she spent as a credentialing specialist. (Docket No. 72-5 at 3-4). Zynn and Robinson had previously worked together at a company called Iagnosis where Zynn was President and Robinson was a credentialing specialist. (Id.). From her date of hire at ID Connect through March 2020, Zynn directly supervised Robinson. (Id. at 4).

At her first performance review in March 2020, Zynn rated Robinson as a “Solid/Strong/Good Performer,” but he noted that she should strive to “be more open minded to changes in process/systems/automation,” “[w]ork proactively through issues,” and “[b]e more hands on and proactive with” a new software program called Modio. (Docket No. 72-9 at 3-5). Around this same time, Robinson received a pay raise, which was processed on UPMC's systems. (Docket Nos. 63-5; 76 at 4-5).

Nancy Zimmerman became Robinson's direct supervisor in April 2020. (Docket No. 80 at 4). Zimmerman, who was working concurrently for UPMC Enterprises as an Executive in Residence, served as the Director of Clinical Operations for ID Connect. (Id.; Docket No. 64 at 3). Shortly thereafter, Zimmerman began recording issues with Robinson's performance. (Docket No. 81-13). On June 1, 2020, Abdel Massih forwarded an email conversation between her and Robinson to Zimmerman. (Docket No. 97-5 at 18). Abdel Massih asked Zimmerman to retain the correspondence “for the records” as evidence that Robinson failed to timely submit Abdel Massih's credentialing information in April, when she completed the necessary paperwork. (Id. at 18-20). In a follow-up email exchange, Abdel Massih expressed her “deep concerns” to Zimmerman that Robinson was not communicating accurate information to doctors. (Docket No. 81-13 at 2). Zimmerman concurred, noting Robinson's “convoluted and often blatantly inaccurate pattern of communication.” (Id. at 1).

Around this same time, Robinson asserts that she approached Zimmerman about hiring another credentialing specialist who would report to Robinson. (Docket No. 81-4; 81-17 at ¶ 25).

Robinson claims that Zynn had promised that she would become a manager within the company's credentialing department. (Docket No. 81-17 at ¶ 25). Instead of hiring her subordinate, ID Connect decided to seek out a Senior Credentialing Manager to supervise Robinson. (Docket No. 80 at 6).

Abdel Massih and Zimmerman met with Robinson on July 30 to discuss her performance and inform her that ID Connect would be hiring a Senior Credentialing Manger. (Docket No. 992 at 152). Zimmerman reported that Robinson, contesting the notion that she needed to be managed, was upset about the company's decision. (Id.). ID Connect posted the position on UPMC's talent acquisition webpage on August 5. (Id.; Docket Nos. 81-17 at ¶ 30; 104 at 12). Robinson did not apply for the opening because the job posting required a college degree, which she did not have, and she believed that an application would be “futile.” (Docket No. 81-17 at ¶¶ 31, 33-34).

ID Connect hired Liyuen Wills in October 2020 to be the Senior Credentialing Manager. (Docket No. 80 at 7). Wills was born in Singapore in 1977 and moved to the United States in 1997. (Docket No. 104 at 5). She has three degrees from Western Governors University: a Bachelor's degree in human resources and health information management, a Master of Business Administration in health care administration, and a Master's degree in health leadership. (Id. at 7-9). Prior to working for ID Connect, Wills supervised a credentialing team of eighteen to twenty people at UPMC. (Id. at 13-15). Before that, she worked as a certified nursing assistant. (Id. at 13).

Robinson was one of the credentialing specialists who worked under Wills at UPMC. (8117 at ¶ 36). Robinson asserts that she was treated more poorly than “others” by Wills at UPMC.^[2](Docket No. 68-4 at 19.). Robinson claims that she left UPMC to escape Wills' allegedly discriminatory behavior and to pursue “more money.” (Id. at 18; Docket No. 81-17 at ¶ 36). With that said, Robinson does not provide any evidence that she complained about discrimination while she was employed at UPMC, and Robinson testified that she did not come to believe that Wills' harsh treatment was due to her race until sometime after leaving UPMC. (Docket No. 68-4 at 18). Robinson admitted that she never heard anyone use racial slurs or make any other racist comments while she worked at UPMC. (Docket No. 68-4 at 3, 22). At ID Connect, Wills directly supervised Robinson from October 2020 until Robinson's employment was terminated in March 2021. (Docket No. 80 at 7). Wills did not supervise any other employees during this time. (Docket No. 72-3 at 248).

Despite having only supervised Robinson for the final quarter of 2020, Wills completed Robinson's annual performance review. (Docket No. 72-15). For help, she consulted Zynn's 2019 review and a quarterly review completed by Zimmerman. (Docket No. 81-14 at 3). Wills rated Robinson's performance as “Needs Improvement” or “Unsatisfactory” in most categories. (Docket No. 72-15). Based in part on this review, Zynn wrote to Daniele Crisi-Couchenour, UPMC Enterprises' Manager of Human Resources, that he, Zimmerman, and Wills were dissatisfied with Robinson's performance and that it would be necessary to place her on a Performance Improvement Plan (“PIP”). (Docket Nos. 63-3 at 2; 81-14 at 1).

Wills met with Robinson on February 8 to discuss her performance review and place her on the PIP. (Docket No. 80 at 9). ID Connect followed a UPMC process to issue the PIP, and it was completed on a “UPMC Performance Plan Document.” (Dockets No. 63-6; 76 at 5). The PIP period ran from February 9 to March 27. (Docket Nos. 72-17 at 1; 80 at 9).

The PIP identified six problem areas. (Docket No. 72-17 at 2-4). It noted that Robinson had failed to “provide[] an accurate update on each provider's credentialing process and a frank assessment of when privileges can be met;” to proactively identify problems rather than “wait[ing] to be contacted if there are issues;” “to pay sufficient attention to details” and provide accurate information; and to use SharePoint as directed. (Id.). It also stated that Robinson ignored assigned tasks that she felt were unnecessary and refused to use Modio, the credentialing software purchased by the company. (Id. at 4). The PIP highlighted several scenarios where Robinson's missteps either created credentialing issues or would have caused problems if not for intervention by a third party. (Id. at 4-6).

ID Connect listed three “Goals and Objectives” in the PIP for Robinson to meet. (Docket No. 72-17 at 5-6). First, she was directed to “[i]mprove oversight of credentialing...