Spencer v. Austin

AMENDED MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

John Z. Lee United States District Judge

Plaintiffs Janet Spencer and Sara Popenhagen, employees of the University of Chicago's Facilities Services Department, have brought this lawsuit against Defendants Kevin Austin and Gerald McGillian, and the University of Chicago (“the University”). In Counts I and III, Plaintiffs claim that the University discriminated against them on the basis of their sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and the Illinois Human Rights Act (“IHRA”), 775 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/1-101 et seq. In Counts II and IV, they allege that the University unlawfully retaliated against them for their complaints, again violating Title VII and the IHRA. In Count V, Spencer alleges that the University paid her less than her comparable male co-workers in violation of the Illinois Equal Pay Act (“IEPA”), 820 Ill. Comp. Stat. 112/1 et seq. Finally, in Counts VI and VII, they claim that Austin and McGillian violated Illinois tort law by interfering with the Plaintiffs' respective business expectancies and advantages.

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The University of Chicago has moved to dismiss Plaintiffs' discrimination and retaliation claims, and Austin and McGillian have moved to dismiss Plaintiffs' tort claims. For the reasons stated below, the Court denies the University's motion and McGillian's motion to dismiss Popenhagen's tortious interference claim, but grants the individual Defendants' motion to dismiss Spencer's tortious interference claim.

I. Background^[1]

This case arises from Plaintiffs' employment at the University of Chicago's Facilities Services Department, which is responsible for maintaining the buildings and grounds of the University's Hyde Park campus. Compl. ¶ 1, ECF No. 1. The complaint paints a troubling picture of an employer that favors “white, Christian men” in hiring, promotion, and treatment. As alleged, women and persons of color are harassed and discriminated against, id. ¶¶ 4, 23-26, anti-Semitic outbursts are left unchecked, id. ¶¶ 4, 7, 67, 125, and men are routinely promoted over their more-qualified female peers, id. at ¶¶ 5, 62, 66.

Despite numerous internal complaints of race, gender, and religious discrimination in Facilities Services, Plaintiffs assert that the University of Chicago did nothing to crack down on the prejudicial actions of its male employees. Id. ¶ 2. Moreover, the complaint alleges that, when employees did speak out about repugnant behavior and the “Good Ol' Boys” club within Facilities Services, the complainants were scolded, silenced, or punished. Id. ¶¶ 8-9.

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A. Spencer's Allegations

Spencer is a white female who started working as a Maintenance Program Manager for Facilities Services in October 2013. Id. ¶¶ 20-21. Spencer soon observed one of her white male colleagues, Defendant Austin, going out of his way to harass their two black female co-workers. Id. ¶¶ 23-26. Meanwhile, Austin was “a bit too friendly” to Spencer, asking her to spend time with him outside of work on several occasions. Id. ¶ 27. Despite feeling pressure to accept Austin's invitations, Spencer always rejected his advances. Id.

Spencer's direct boss, former Assistant Vice President (“AVP”) of Operations Joel Schriever, left Facilities Services in August 2014. Id. ¶ 30. His supervisory responsibilities were temporarily distributed between Austin and another of Spencer's peers, Sumit Ray. Id. Spencer was assigned to report to Ray, but Austin quickly asked her to request a management change so that he could supervise her. Id. ¶ 31. She declined. Id.

Following this rejection, Austin began harassing Spencer in “exactly the same way” as he had harassed their other female co-workers, who had since been fired. Id. ¶¶ 28-29, 32. Among other things, Austin mocked Spencer in management meetings, disparaged her around the office, and undermined Spencer to her subordinates. Id. ¶ 32. He never treated male employees this way. Id. ¶ 34.

In December 2014, Defendant McGillian filled the AVP vacancy in Facilities Services left by Schriever. Id. ¶ 36. McGillian is also a white male. Id. Over the next six months and under McGillian's supervision, Austin continued to harass

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Spencer. Id. ¶ 37-38. In McGillian's first performance review for Spencer, he rated her poorly in communications skills because of the issues with Austin. Id. ¶ 38. Accordingly, Spencer asked McGillian to help diffuse the situation. Id. He “chuckled and said he would not.” Id.

Throughout 2015, Austin kept acting “abusively” toward Spencer, going so far as to “encourag[e] other white males to engage in the same kind of conduct.” Id. ¶ 40. While McGillian observed this behavior, he did nothing to stop the harassment. Id. Spencer thus alleges that McGillian condoned Austin's behavior during this year. Id. At some point, AVP McGillian also began harassing Spencer, treating her in a disrespectful way that he did not treat males under his supervision. Id. ¶ 41.

Plaintiffs allege that Facilities Service employees are “not permitted to make complaints to human resources and were instead required to ‘follow the chain of command' and raise any complaints only with their direct supervisor.” Id. ¶ 8. So, in February 2016, Spencer wrote to McGillian to object to the hostile work environment. Id. ¶ 42. McGillian did not respond or forward the letter to Human Resources or his boss. Id.

In October 2016, three years after Spencer began working, the University hired Jim McConnell, a white, Christian male, to run the Facilities Services department. Id. ¶ 43. He was McGillian's new boss. Id. After two days with the department, McConnell told Spencer that McGillian was “not going anywhere, ” so she needed to be the one to “figure it out.” Id. ¶ 44. McConnell also told Spencer that she was required to file all complaints with her direct supervisor, McGillian. Id.

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Under McConnell, Austin's and McGillian's harassment of Spencer intensified. Id. ¶ 45. Now, during meetings, they would direct male staff members to report on Spencer's projects or humiliate and interrupt Spencer by asking male employees to corroborate that she was telling the truth. Id. ¶¶ 45-47. Austin also lobbied to cut Spencer's staff in the Maintenance Program Services group she ran. Id. ¶ 47-48. The University ultimately did shrink Spencer's support staff for this group from five employees to zero. Id. ¶ 48.

Moreover, McGillian and McConnell transferred responsibility of another group from Austin to Spencer. Id. ¶ 51. Within eighteen months, the University cut the staff for this group from six employees to one. Id. ¶ 52. Nevertheless, McGillian insisted that Spencer continue to meet her deliverables, requiring her to work longer and harder without additional compensation or a promotion. Id. ¶ 49. In fact, Spencer alleges that McGillian and McConnell actually cut her pay relative to her male colleagues during this period, decreasing the percentage of Spencer's annual raise from 4% to 2.5% to 2% to 1%, id. ¶ 50, while giving several men in the department pay raises and promotions, id. ¶ 62.

Spencer compares her treatment to that of one of her direct reports, Nicholas Neu, a white male who was also Austin's personal friend. Id. ¶ 54. Neu received a promotion and pay increase after Spencer had raised concerns about his disrespect and insubordination to Human Resources employee Adrian Velez. Id. ¶¶ 55, 62. Furthermore, when Spencer presented McGillian with documented examples of Neu's misconduct and poor performance, McGillian “responded by throwing the papers

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across the table at her and telling her he never wanted to see documentation like that again.” Id. ¶ 58. Spencer reported this outburst to Velez, but the University did not take any action to discipline McGillian or address his conduct. Id. ¶ 59. Later, McGillian ordered Spencer to falsify Neu's performance review by removing her evaluations of his work. Id. ¶ 60.

In September 2017, fed up with the incessant mistreatment allegedly “based on [her] sex, ” id. ¶ 130, Spencer filed a complaint about the “Good O1' Boys” culture that permeated the Facilities Services Department with the University's Labor Relations Department, id. ¶ 64. The Labor Relations employee who received Spencer's complaint responded: “Why don't you leave?” Id. One month later, Spencer again notified the University of the ongoing discrimination she faced and of the hostile environment at Facilities Services by submitting a complaint to Velez. Id. ¶ 65. Velez again did nothing to address the problem. Id.

In late October, the University refused Spencer's request for a reduced work schedule to operate an outside business, despite granting her male colleague time off to work on the same project. Id. ¶¶ 63, 69-71. On November 8, 2017, Spencer again notified the University of Chicago about discrimination and harassment within Facilities Services. Id. ¶ 71. She directed this complaint-her fourth since she began working at the University-to the Associate Provost and Director in the Office for Equal Opportunity Programs. Id.

By late November 2017, Spenser had provided the University with repeated complaints regarding the discrimination and harassment Spencer faced, but to no

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avail. Id. ¶ 72. Accordingly, Spencer “recognized the futility of continuing to remain in her job” and ended her employment with the University of Chicago on November 30, 2017. Id. ¶ 72.

Her replacement was a white male named Brian Cowperthwaite. Id. ¶ 75. The University allegedly gave Cowperthwaite “a more prestigious job title and paid him more money to do the same job, which required equal skill, effort...