Shirrell v. Saint Francis Med. Ctr.

24 F.Supp.3d 851

Rebecca SHIRRELL, Plaintiff

v.SAINT FRANCIS MEDICAL CENTER, and Lisa Miller, Defendants.

Case No. 1:13CV42 SNLJ.

United States District Court, E.D. Missouri, Southeastern Division.

Signed June 4, 2014.

D. Eric Sowers, Joshua Michael Pierson, Ferne P. Wolf, Sowers And Wolf, LLC, St. Louis, MO, for Plaintiff.

Robert D. Younger, Thomas O. McCarthy, McMahon and Berger, St. Louis, MO, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

STEPHEN N. LIMBAUGH, JR., District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on defendants' motion for summary judgment and plaintiff's motion to strike defendants' response to plaintiff's statement of material facts. This is an employment discrimination case alleging claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended (“Title VII”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. and the Missouri Human Rights Act (“MHRA”), §§ 213.010 RSMoet seq. Specifically, plaintiff claims that defendants terminated her employment because of her religion and her complaints of discriminatory conduct. Both motions have been fully briefed and are ripe for disposition. For the following reasons, the Court will grant the motion for summary judgment and deny the motion to strike.

As a preliminary matter, the Court will take up plaintiff's motion to strike defendants' response to plaintiff's statement of material facts. Plaintiff contends that defendants have violated Local Rule 4.01(D) in that defendants' reply brief consists of 15 pages, and their attached response to plaintiff's statement of material facts consists of 37 pages, thereby exceeding the limit of 15 pages for a “motion, memorandum or brief” set forth in Local Rule 4.01(D). Plaintiff requests that the response be stricken. Defendants argue that the response is not subject to the page limit because it is not a “motion, memorandum or brief.” The Court finds that the response to plaintiff's statement of material facts, which is filed as Exhibit 1 to defendants' reply brief, does not violate Local Rule 4.01(D). The Court will, therefore, deny the motion to strike. The Court now turns to the defendants' motion for summary judgment.

I. Legal Standard

Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(a), a district court may grant a motion for summary judgment if all of the information before the court demonstrates that “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The burden is on the moving party. City of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa v. Associated Elec. Co-op. Inc., 838 F.2d 268, 273 (8th Cir.1988). After the moving party discharges this burden, the nonmoving party must do more than show that there is some doubt as to the facts. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). Instead, the nonmoving party bears the burden of setting forth affirmative evidence and specific facts by affidavit and other evidence showing that there is a genuine dispute of a material fact. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) ; Celotex, 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548. “A dispute about a material fact is ‘genuine’ only ‘if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.’ ” Herring v. Canada Life Assur. Co., 207 F.3d 1026, 1030 (8th Cir.2000) (quoting Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505 ). A party resisting summary judgment has the burden to designate the specific facts that create a triable controversy. See Crossley v. Georgia–Pacific Corp., 355 F.3d 1112, 1114 (8th Cir.2004). Self-serving, conclusory statements without support are not sufficient to defeat summary judgment. Armour and Co., Inc. v. Inver Grove Heights, 2 F.3d 276, 279 (8th Cir.1993).

“While employment discrimination cases are often fact intensive and dependent on nuance in the workplace, they are not immune from summary judgment.” Fercello v. County of Ramsey, 612 F.3d 1069, 1077 (8th Cir.2010) (citing Berg v. Norand Corp., 169 F.3d 1140, 1144 (8th Cir.1999) ). There is no separate summary judgment standard for employment discrimination cases, and “it remains a useful pretrial tool to determine whether or not any case, including one alleging discrimination, merits a trial.” Id.

In ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the court must review the facts in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion and give that party the benefit of any inferences that logically can be drawn from those facts. Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348 ; Woods v. DaimlerChrysler Corp., 409 F.3d 984, 990 (8th Cir.2005). The Court may not “weigh the evidence in the summary judgment record, decide credibility questions, or determine the truth of any factual issue.” Kampouris v. St. Louis Symphony Soc., 210 F.3d 845, 847 (8th Cir.2000). However, the court is required to resolve all conflicts of evidence in favor of the nonmoving party. Robert Johnson Grain Co. v. Chemical Interchange Co., 541 F.2d 207, 210 (8th Cir.1976).

II. Facts

The following facts are taken from defendants' statement of uncontroverted facts, plaintiff's statement of material facts, and exhibits in the record.

Plaintiff Rebecca Shirrell received her nursing degree in 1995 and became employed by Saint Francis Medical Center (“SFMC”) the same year as a clinical nurse. Plaintiff voluntarily resigned from her employment with SFMC in July 2000. Plaintiff was rehired by SFMC in 2001. Plaintiff elected to work as a part-time registered nurse for SFMC from 2007 through the remainder of her employment with SFMC. She primarily worked weekends.

Lisa Miller worked for SFMC from 1993 to 1996 and returned in 2005 to employment with SFMC. Plaintiff and Miller worked weekend option together for a number of years. Plaintiff is Jewish. Miller is not Jewish. Miller was aware that plaintiff was Jewish and had overheard plaintiff talk about celebrating Hanukkah.

In late February or early March 2012, during a conversation that occurred in plaintiff's presence, Miller made a comment to another co-worker, Clayton Suggs, that she was going to try to “Jew” down, or had “Jewed” down, the seller of a camper to a lower price.¹ Prior to that comment by Miller, plaintiff had not heard Miller or any other co-worker make any offensive comments related to the Jewish faith and did not have any issue with the way she was treated by Miller or other co-workers.

Plaintiff informed her supervisor, Tammy Hahn–Brown, about Miller's offensive comment during a telephone conversation the day after Miller made the comment. Hahn–Brown told Gerry Salter, SFMC Director of Orthopedic Services, about the incident. Hahn–Brown told Salter that she was going to speak with Miller about the incident and that she was going to communicate with staff and remind them of expectations of staff members in conversation. On March 5, 2012, Hahn–Brown posted a copy of the SFMC Harassment Policy on a bulletin board in the nurses' room and sent an e-mail to nurses (including Miller) and nursing assistants informing them to choose their words and actions wisely around patients, families, and co-workers at all times.

Approximately six weeks after Miller's offensive comment, plaintiff informed Hahn–Brown that the work environment had become hostile. Plaintiff alleges that her coworkers gave her the cold shoulder during that time. Plaintiff also claims that Miller asked plaintiff why she had complained to their supervisor and accused plaintiff of trying to get Miller in trouble. Plaintiff admits that she had very little interaction with co-workers during a typical weekend shift and that she never filed a harassment complaint or an internal grievance while employed by SFMC.

In late March or early April 2012, Hahn–Brown announced she was leaving the supervisory position to take a different position within SFMC. Miller applied for the supervisory position. On April 20, 2012, Miller learned she had received the promotion to the position of Nurse Manager of Orthopedics but did not start working in the new position without the supervision of Hahn–Brown until late May 2012.

In late May or early June 2012, Miller brought two patient complaints regarding plaintiff to Salter's attention. Salter told Miller to investigate the complaints. Miller reported the results of her investigation to Salter. The complaints about plaintiff made by patients or family members of patients on May 31, 2012 and June 2, 2012 were labeled as unprofessional conduct. Per the SFMC Progressive Corrective Action Policy, two occurrences of unprofessional conduct results in a suspension, and a suspension results in seven disciplinary points. Salter assessed plaintiff a suspension, worth seven points, based on the two incidents of patient complaints.

By late May 2012, plaintiff had accrued five unscheduled absences within a twelve month period, with the fourth and fifth absences occurring on May 24, 2012 and May 26–27, 2012.² Pursuant to the SFMC Absenteeism and Tardiness policy, part-time employees are to receive a written counseling after four unscheduled absences within a twelve month period and a suspension after five unscheduled absences within a twelve month period. Salter gave plaintiff a written warning for her five unscheduled absences within a twelve month period. Under the SFMC Progressive Corrective Action Policy, a written warning is valued at three disciplinary points. Plaintiff does not dispute that she had five unscheduled absences but disputes that the SFMC policies were correctly applied to her. Plaintiff points out that the SFMC Absenteeism and Tardiness policy has a provision for full time employees and a provision for part-time employees working less than 60 hours. Plaintiff alleges that although she was a part-time employee, she worked more than 60 hours and, therefore, the policy did not apply to her.

In late May and early June 2012, plaintiff received...