Sloth v. Constellation Brands, Inc.

883 F.Supp.2d 359

Vicky SLOTH, Plaintiff,

v.CONSTELLATION BRANDS, INC., John Bognaski, John Elliot, Sheldon Richardson, Barbara Bagshaw, Clayton Brower, individually and in their Official Capacities,¹ Defendants.

No. 11–CV–6041T.

United States District Court, W.D. New York.

June 8, 2012.

Michael Cobbs, Brown & Hutchinson, Rochester, NY, for Plaintiff.

John Eric Higgins, Nixon Peabody LLP, Albany, NY, for Defendants.

DECISION and ORDER

MICHAEL A. TELESCA, District Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Vicky Sloth (“Sloth”), brings this action pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), (codified at 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq.); the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, (“ADEA”) (codified at 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq.); 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and the New York State Human Rights Law against her former employer, Constellation Brands, Inc., (“Constellation”) and various employees of Constellation claiming that she was sexually harassed by the defendants during almost the entire course of her 28 year employment with Constellation, and has been discriminated against on the basis of her gender, age, race, national origin, and disability. ² Defendants move to dismiss the Complaint, or, in the alternative, for summary judgment dismissing plaintiff's claims on grounds that Sloth's claims are barred by res judicata and collateral estoppel; the individual defendants named in the complaint are not subject to liability; the majority of plaintiff's claims are time barred; those claims that are not time-barred fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted; and plaintiff has failed to exhaust her administrative remedies with regard to many of her claims, and thus is barred from bringing those claims before this court.

For the reasons set forth below, defendants' motion is granted in-part and denied in-part.

BACKGROUND

The following factual allegations are found in the plaintiff's complaint and Defendants' Statement of Material Facts. As a general matter, the defendants deny all of plaintiff's claims of harassment or discrimination.

Plaintiff Vicky Sloth became employed by Constellation Brands in December, 1980. Constellation is a producer and distributer of wines and spirits, and Sloth worked in the production area of the company as a line attendant. According to Sloth, she suffered numerous acts of gender discrimination and was subjected to a hostile working environment during her entire employment with Constellation Brands, which ended when she was fired from the Company on February 28, 2009.³

Sloth contends that during the “early 1980's”, employee Harry Davis frequently un-hooked her bra. (Complaint at ¶ 26). She also claims that in the early 1980's, defendant Clayton Brower (“Brower”), who was the plant supervisor at the time, repeatedly invited Sloth to meet him at a hotel for sexual relations. (Complaint at ¶ 33). Plaintiff admitted at her Workers' Compensation hearing that she never told anyone about these alleged incidents until 2008. (Defendants' Statement of Undisputed Facts at ¶ 56, 57) Sloth contends that during the 1980's employee Dave Mitchell accosted her in a storage room and demanded that she have sex with him. (Complaint at ¶ 36). Plant Supervisor Mike Hershberger also, on several occasions, allegedly made obscene and sexually graphic comments to Sloth. (Complaint at ¶ 41). Sloth alleges that Hershberger showed her pornographic images on his computer, and gave her a photograph of a penis. (Complaint at ¶¶ 43, 44). According to the defendants, employee Charito Crouse provided sworn testimony at plaintiff's workers' compensation hearing stating that the picture was a “joke picture” that had been printed from a computer, that the picture was not of a penis, and that both Crouse and Sloth found the picture to be funny. Defendants contend that plaintiff did not complain about Hershberger's alleged behavior until 2008. According to the defendants, Plaintiff admitted at her Workers' Compensation hearing that she never told anyone about these alleged incidents until 2008. (Defendants' Statement of Undisputed Facts at ¶¶ 76, 78).

Sloth alleges that during “the early 1990's” bottling room supervisor John Elliot (“Elliot”) made repeated vulgar sexual advances towards her, and, after she refused his advances, assigned her to the dirtiest and most difficult jobs in the plant. (Complaint at ¶¶ 46–48). She claims that Elliott also refused to promote or recommend Sloth for promotion in retaliation for her refusing to acquiesce to his advances. (Complaint at ¶ 49). Sloth admitted that she never complained of this behavior until 2008, when she made the allegations to an independent medical examiner. Plaintiff admitted at her Workers' Compensation hearing that she never told anyone about these alleged incidents until 2008. (Defendants' Statement of Undisputed Facts at ¶ 91).

Sloth alleges that in approximately 1993 or 1994, co-employee Sheldon Richardson (“Richardson”) was assigned to work during plaintiff's shift. She claims that upon his transfer to her shift, Richardson began sexually harassing her. (Complaint at ¶ 51). Sloth claims that she complained to management about Richardson's behavior, but that Constellation failed to take any action to prevent Richardson from harassing her. (Complaint at ¶ 52). Sloth claims that in 1994 or 1995, after a company picnic, Richardson and several other company employees went to her house, where plaintiff fell asleep. (Complaint at ¶¶ 53, 54). Although plaintiff in her Complaint alleges that she fell asleep, in her EEOC Complaint she claimed that she had passed out from drinking. (Defendants' Statement of Undisputed Facts at ¶ 104) She claims that upon awaking, she found Richardson standing over her, and that her blouse had been undone and her shorts unzipped. (Complaint at ¶¶ 54–58). Plaintiff claims that she complained of this conduct to Constellation, but that Constellation took no action because the alleged incident took place at Sloth's home. (Complaint at ¶¶ 60, 61). Plaintiff complained to the police regarding Richardson's conduct, but according to the defendant, no charges were ever brought. She alleges that Richardson continued to harass her after the incident. (Complaint at ¶¶ 59, 65, 66). Although plaintiff made numerous allegations about Richardson to Constellation management, none of her allegations could be substantiated, and in 1995, Sloth signed a letter prepared by Constellation acknowledging that the complaints she had made against Richardson were fabricated. (Defendants' Statement of Undisputed Facts at ¶ 503)

Sloth alleges that beginning in 1998, defendant John Bognaski, (“Bognaski”) the director of East Coast Bottling Operations for Constellation, began “a long running an continuous pattern of quid pro quo sexual harassment and retaliation against [her].” (Complaint at ¶ 68). She claims that Bognaski attempted to kiss her, and warned her that he would have her fired if she told anyone about the incident. (Complaint at ¶¶ 70, 71). Thereafter, Bognaski allegedly assigned her to work with Richardson, despite her request not to work with him because of his alleged harassment and sexual assault. (Complaint at ¶ ¶ 74, 75). According to Bognaski, he played no role in making work assignments. (Defendants' Statement of Undisputed Facts at ¶ 515) After she refused a work assignment in which she was required to work with Richardson, she was disciplined. When Bognaski called her to his office asking her to explain her refusal to work with Richardson, he allegedly forced her to accompany him to a storage room where he forced her to perform oral sex on him. (Complaint at ¶¶ 79, 80, 82–85). Several of plaintiff's coworkers, including coworkers with whom plaintiff allegedly shared intimate details of her life, testified, or provided written statements indicating that plaintiff never complained of this alleged occurrence at the time it allegedly happened. (Defendants' Statement of Undisputed Facts at ¶¶ 410, 411, 480, 648, 658, 711, 712, 735, 745) Several of plaintiff's coemployees also testified at plaintiff's workers' compensation hearing that it would have been impossible for Sloth to leave her work station on the production line without the entire line coming to a halt, and therefore, they did not believe that Sloth could have left her workstation and been forced to have sex in a storage room during working hours. (Defendants' Statement of Undisputed Facts at ¶ 654, 719) Still other coworkers, including Bognaski himself, testified that because his office was in a main hallway, had several windows, and was a conduit to other rooms used by employees, there was significant, often unannounced traffic in and near his office that would likely have prevented any type of improper physical assault of the plaintiff. (Defendants' Statement of Undisputed Facts at ¶¶ 420–428, 537–541, 623–626, 742)

In 2003, plaintiff finalized her divorce from her husband, and she alleges that Bognaski thereafter increased his interest in attempting to have sex with her, and began sexually harassing her more frequently. (Complaint at ¶ 86) In 2006, Bognaski allegedly left a message on plaintiff's cell phone inviting her to join him after an evening of going out with her friends. (Complaint at ¶ 97) Sloth claims that Bognaski was upset because Sloth's boyfriend and co-workers heard the message, and as a result, he allegedly gave her, or caused her to receive, a poor annual work-review resulting in a smaller pay raise than other employees received. (Complaint at ¶¶ 100, 102, 105). Defendants claim that one of plaintiff's coworkers, Mary Henninger, who heard the voice message, described it as “very short and completely innocuous” (Defendants' Statement of Undisputed Facts at ¶ 196, 405), and that Bognaski did not conduct the annual performance review. (Defendants' Statement of Undisputed Facts at ¶ 201).

Plaintiff alleges that during a wedding reception in April 2007,...