Worthy v. Chimes Dist. of Columbia, Inc.

DANIEL WORTHY v. CHIMES DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, INC., ET AL.

No. 034-2021

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland ^[*]

December 28, 2022

Circuit Court for Baltimore City Case No. 24-C-19-001618

Wells C.J., Zic, Ripken, JJ.

OPINION ^[**]

Zic J Daniel Worthy, appellant, appeals an order from the Circuit Court for Baltimore City granting summary judgment in favor of appellees: Chimes District of Columbia, Inc. ("Chimes"), Robert J. Bryan, Joni M. Dorsett, Gerard Cotter, and Pamela Meadows. Collectively, Mr. Bryan, Ms. Dorsett, Mr. Cotter, and Ms. Meadows are the "individual appellees." This case arises out of Chimes' termination of Mr. Worthy, a Black^[1] man, who was a Chimes employee from January 2012 to March 2018. Mr. Worthy filed suit against appellees, alleging violations of the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act ("FEPA") on several grounds as well as violations of the Maryland Whistleblower Statute. FEPA largely adopts Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which, in part, prohibits workplace discrimination, and Maryland's Whistleblower Statute closely parallels portions of the federal Whistleblower Protection Act.

QUESTIONS PRESENTED

The issues on appeal have been rephrased and reframed as follows:^[2]

1. Whether the circuit court erred by holding Mr. Worthy cannot prove that Chimes violated FEPA on the basis of hostile work environment, discrimination, failure to accommodate, or retaliation.

2. Whether the circuit court erred by holding Mr. Worthy cannot prove that appellees aided or abetted violations of FEPA.

3. Whether the circuit court erred by holding Mr. Worthy cannot prove that appellees violated the Whistleblower Statute by retaliating against Mr. Worthy for allegedly refusing to violate the law within his employment.

For the reasons explained below, we answer all three questions in the negative and affirm the circuit court's grant of summary judgment in favor of appellees.

BACKGROUND

Mr. Worthy's Employment with Chimes

Chimes provides training and employment through various contracts with state and federal entities. One of Chimes' largest contracts is with the Maryland Aviation Administration ("MAA"). Under the MAA contract, Chimes performs janitorial services for the Baltimore/Washington International Airport ("BWI"). Chimes hired Mr. Worthy as the Staffing and Training Manager at BWI under the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Veteran Readiness and Employment (Chapter 31) Program in January 2012.^[3] On July 27, 2012, Valerie Madore, employment coordinator for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, emailed Chimes asking for the following accommodations for Mr. Worthy: a flexible work schedule, ergonomic workspace, scooter or other mobility if walking cannot be decreased, reduction or elimination of physical exertion, and scheduling periodic breaks away from his workstation.^[4]

Chimes promoted Mr. Worthy to Project Manager in June 2014. As Project Manager, Mr. Worthy was required to be available on a 24-hour basis and was accordingly issued a company cell phone. In this position, Mr. Worthy's primary functions involved supervising,^[5] training,^[6] scheduling, inspecting,^[7] and reporting janitorial and custodial services activities. Gerard Cotter, Executive Vice President of Chimes, stated in his affidavit that Chimes expected Mr. Worthy to be physically present at BWI on "Monday through Friday during regular business hours." On October 30, 2015, Mr. Worthy had a "mental breakdown" during a work meeting with Terry Collard, a corporate employee. Mr. Worthy was hospitalized as a result. Mr. Worthy testified that, after leaving the hospital, he emailed Ms. Collard to request a medical accommodation to work from home. He also testified that this request was granted. In May 2017, Chimes issued Mr. Worthy a laptop and hotspot to be available on a 24-hour basis.^[8]

On November 15, 2017, Mr. Worthy met with Mr. Cotter and Pamela Meadows, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, at which time they placed Mr. Worthy on an indefinite, unpaid suspension for suspected timecard fraud. On November 21, 2017, Ms. Meadows sent Mr. Worthy an email with a C-17 form^[9] attached, indicating that Chimes had "information to support that [Mr. Worthy] falsely recorded [his] hours worked."

Ms. Meadows scheduled a meeting for December 12, 2017, rescheduled it for January 2, 2018, and rescheduled it again for January 8, 2018. Both postponements were due to Mr. Worthy's unavailability on the suggested dates. Then, on January 8, 2018, Mr. Worthy appeared for the meeting but requested, for the first time, that a notetaker he provided be present in the meeting. The meeting, therefore, did not take place at that time. Ms. Meadows sent a letter on January 11, 2018, explaining that Chimes would consider his request. On February 2, 2018, Chimes sent a letter to Mr. Worthy as an alternative to a meeting, to provide him an opportunity to respond to the investigative findings. In this letter, Chimes identified multiple timecard disparities from the beginning of September 2017 through November 2017.^[10]

On February 9, 2018, Mr. Worthy responded to this letter in detail with explanations for the timecard discrepancies including: he had been granted an accommodation to work from home due to his disability, was not required to clock in or out of BWI, spent the majority of his time in pre-security areas of the airport, acted as an "undercover boss," and left his Chimes-issued cell phone with his children when he went to work. Ms. Meadows responded via letter to Mr. Worthy on March 20, 2018, stating that Mr. Worthy's explanations "do not sufficiently explain the concerns." For example, Ms. Meadows stated that "Chimes never authorized [Mr. Worthy] to telecommute,"^[11] and Mr. Bryan instructed Mr. Worthy to clock in and out at BWI rather than leaving the sign-in sheet blank.

Within this letter, Ms. Meadows also addressed Mr. Worthy's claim that their investigation was retaliatory following his complaints about discriminatory comments. Ms. Meadows initially noted that Mr. Worthy's letter was the first time she heard of these claims and that he did not raise the concerns of discrimination at their prior meetings. She then addressed his concerns, stating that Chimes investigated them thoroughly, and she detailed Chimes' conclusion that Mr. Worthy's claims could not be substantiated. Ms. Meadows restated Chimes' expectation that Mr. Worthy, as BWI Project Manager, would be physically present at BWI during his work hours. For these reasons, Ms. Meadows terminated Mr. Worthy, effective March 20, 2018.

Sharon Pardo, a White female employee, temporarily replaced Mr. Worthy as Project Manager during Mr. Worthy's suspension. In January 2018, approximately 45 to 60 days after Mr. Worthy's suspension, Chimes hired Larry Carter, a Black man, who took the permanent position of Project Manager in place of Mr. Worthy. Also, Chimes terminated two other Black employees and two White employees for misconduct- timecard fraud and corporate credit card theft-at or about the same time Chimes terminated Mr. Worthy.

Alleged Harassment and Discriminatory Behavior by Chimes Employees

Mr Worthy testified that on or about September 1, 2017, following the beginning of the new MAA contract, he voiced complaints of discrimination to Robert J. Bryan, who was Chimes' Director of Operations and Mr. Worthy's supervisor. Mr. Worthy testified that he complained of pay disparity between Kevin Downey, a White male Chimes manager, and Black Chimes managers because Mr. Downey received $10,000 "outside of the contract pay" that other managers did not receive. Additionally, Zoe Walters, a Black female manager, testified that she was disciplined for a documentation deficiency related to badges, but Mr. Downey, who was the authorized signer of the documentation, was not disciplined for the deficiency. Mr. Worthy testified that he voiced to Joni Dorsett, Director of Human Resources, Ms. Walters' complaints about disparate discipline as between her and Mr. Downey.

Additionally, starting in October 2017, several employees on the MAA contract with BWI complained about comments made by Chimes' Financial Analyst, Jane Gallaher, Director of Operations, Mr. Bryan, and onsite corporate trainer, Michael Allenbaugh.^[12] Ms. Walters, Shon Felder, and Tiana Howard, all Chimes employees, testified that Ms. Gallaher said to Kevin "Chip" Zgorski, "She's a pretty, young Black thing. Your guess is as good as mine,"^[13] with reference to Ms. Walters and why she was promoted to Maximo Manager.^[14]

Mr Felder testified that he, Ms. Walters, Ms. Howard, and Doretha Tolliver, another Chimes employee, witnessed Ms. Gallaher also say, "this is what Caesar has his monkeys doing," with reference to Mr. Worthy and his subordinates, the majority of whom were Black.^[15] Additionally, Mr. Worthy and Phillip Allen, a Chimes Shift Manager, testified that they overheard Mr. Bryan say to Raegan Brewer, Chimes' Director of Business Development, "Look at him, he's a gorilla. How am I supposed to control a gorilla?" with reference to Mr. Worthy. Mr. Worthy testified that he confronted Mr. Bryan after the comment was made, and Mr. Bryan responded, "Come on, man, you know I'm from PG, I'm basically [B]lack." Mr. Felder and Mr. Allen testified that Mr. Bryan frequently made comments at BWI saying, for example, to "crack the whip" on Black employees.^[16] Furthermore, Mr. Worthy testified that on October 26, 2017, Mr. Bryan told Mr. Worthy, "You're not the only monkey walking around claiming to have a disability" when Mr. Worthy expressed that he was having difficulties with his legs and head. Mr. Worthy also testified that on November 1, 2017, Mr. Allenbaugh told Shanelle Daniels, a...