Yeager v. Horizon

698 F.Supp.2d 523

Lindsey YEAGER, Plaintiff,v.UPMC HORIZON, Defendant.

Civil Action No. 08-00893.

United States District Court W.D. Pennsylvania.

March 17, 2010.

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Dirk D. Beuth, Neal A. Sanders, Law Office of Neal Alan Sanders, Butler, PA, for Plaintiff.

John J. Myers, Christina I. Kepplinger, Eckert, Seamans, Cherin & Mellott, Pittsburgh, PA, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

CONTI, District Judge.

Lindsey Yeager (“plaintiff” or “Yeager”), a former health education specialist for UPMC's Womancare Center, commenced this gender-based discrimination and retaliation action against her former employer, defendant UPMC Horizon (“defendant” or “Horizon”). Plaintiff asserts claims for (1) hostile work environment, gender-based discrimination, and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1963, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq. (“Title VII”) (counts one and three), and (2) hostile work environment, gender-based discrimination, and retaliation in violation of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, 43 Pa. Cons.Stat. §§ 951 et seq. (“PHRA”) (counts two and four). Defendant filed a motion for partial summary judgment with respect to the PHRA claim for hostile work environment (count two) and plaintiffs retaliation claims (counts one, two, three, and four).

After considering the submissions of the parties, including the joint statement of material facts (Docket No. 42) (“J.S.”), the court will grant defendant's partial motion for summary judgment with respect to plaintiff's claims asserted under the PHRA, and deny the motion with respect to plaintiff's Title VII retaliation claims to the extent she claims she was retaliated against by defendant prohibiting her from working at home, which she was previously permitted to do.

Factual Background

A. Introductory Facts

The factual background is derived from the undisputed evidence of record and the disputed evidence of record viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (“The evidence of the nonmovant is to be believed, and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in his favor.”).

Plaintiff was employed briefly by defendant in 2005, and again employed from February 2006 until her termination on April 4, 2008. (J.S. ¶ 1; Def.'s App. in Supp. of Mot. (Docket No. 32), Tab 1 (“Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 32)”) at 32, 150.) After working for one week in 2005, plaintiff returned to Horizon as a registered nurse (“RN”) in the OB department on February 6, 2006. (J.S. ¶ 5; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 32) at 49.) During that time, she reported to Sue Lauffer (“Lauffer”), manager of the OB department. ( Id.)

Because plaintiff was having difficulty working with Lauffer, she approached Kimberly Leonard (“Leonard”), about job openings that might be available. (J.S. ¶ 8; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 32) at 61.) Leonard was employed as defendant's director of nursing, defendant's assistant chief nursing officer, the director of Women's Health Services, and the director of the Womancare Center (J.S. ¶ 3; Def.'s App. in Supp. of Mot., Tab 2 (“Leonard Dep. (Docket No. 32)”) at 9.) Plaintiff was interviewed and selected by Leonard for the health education specialist position based in the Womancare Center. (J.S. ¶ 9-10; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 32) at 62, 71; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 32), Ex. 12.) Plaintiff started in the new position on December 10, 2006, at which time she began reporting to Leonard. (J.S. ¶ 12; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 32) at 72, 74; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 32), Ex. 19.) In that position, plaintiff was responsible for maternal infant community education, staff development, private patient consultation, interfacing with physician offices, advocacy for breastfeeding, and breastfeeding support groups. (J.S. ¶ 10; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 32) at 62, Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 32), Ex. 12.)

B. Dr. Meyn and the Sexual Harassment Incidents

Dr. Joseph Meyn (“Meyn”) was a physician specializing in obstetrics and gynecology and was employed at Horizon from June 2005 until March 2009. (J.S. ¶ 4; Def.'s App. in Supp. of Mot., Tab 6 (“Meyn Dep. (Docket No. 32)”) at 10-12.) Yeager first met Meyn while working as a RN in the OB Department. (J.S. ¶ 7; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 32) at 57.) Beginning in October 2006, Yeager began dating Meyn, although plaintiff testified that the relationship was not consensual. (J.S. ¶ 14; Pl.'s App. in Opp. of Mot. (Docket No. 36), Ex. 1 (“Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36)”) at 58, 75-76.) Yeager telephoned Meyn and sent him electronic text messages, but Meyn “would just keep calling and bothering me. It wouldn't matter what time it was or what month it was.” (J.S. ¶ 15, 16; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 75-76.)

Leonard telephoned plaintiff on November 22, 2006 to offer her the position of health education specialist. (J.S. ¶ 11; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 71; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36), Ex. 66.) Plaintiff received a text message on the same day from Meyn which stated, “Congrats. You have the lactation consultant job. Act surprised when they tell you. You owe me. Big time. Happy turkey day! JW.” ( Id.) Leonard told plaintiff not to worry about the written warning that Lauffer had issued to her as Leonard was getting rid of Lauffer. (J.S. ¶ 23(f); Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 213.) Meyn made a similar representation to plaintiff. ( Id.) After plaintiff was selected for the health education specialist position, Meyn told her that she was to have sexual intercourse with Leonard and him. (J.S. ¶ 23(d); Pl Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 116.)

Shortly before Christmas in 2006, Meyn gave Leonard a substantial gift. (J.S. ¶ 23(b); Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 105-06.) Upon receiving the gift, Leonard stated in front of the entire staff that she was surprised she was the one who received the gift, as plaintiff was the one who was sleeping with Meyn. ( Id.) Meyn occasionally went to Leonard's office to talk to her. (J.S. ¶ 23(c); Pl.'s App. in Opp. of Mot, Ex. 2 (“Meyn Dep. (Docket No. 36)”) at 44-45; Pl.'s App. in Opp. of Mot., Ex. 4 (“Leoanrd Dep. (Docket No. 36)”) at 30.) On one occasion, Leonard got angry at plaintiff for interrupting a discussion between Leonard and Meyn. ( Id.) ¹

Plaintiff gave Meyn oral sex on four occasions: three times between October and November 2006 and once on or around March 6, 2007. (J.S. ¶ 19; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 77.) On all four occasions, the acts of oral sex were against plaintiffs will. (J.S. ¶ 19; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 76-79.) From the beginning of the nonconsensual relationship, plaintiff had informed Meyn that his advances were not wanted. (J.S. ¶ 19; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 79-80.) During the March 2007 incident, Meyn removed plaintiff's clothing from above the waist, and attempted to remove the rest of her clothing. (J.S. ¶ 19; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 77-80.) Meyn pinned plaintiff, who was crying and protesting, to the bed. ( Id.)

Plaintiff did not go to the police after any of the occurrences of oral sex with Meyn. (J.S. ¶ 19; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 79.) Plaintiff asserts that Meyn is an avid gun collector with well over 200 weapons in his collection. (J.S. ¶ 20; Meyn Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 25-26.) When Meyn showed his collection to plaintiff, he told her words to the effect that “he gets rid of whoever he doesn't like.” (J.S. ¶ 20; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 209, 217.) Meyn conveyed to plaintiff that he had been responsible for getting rid of a number of people in the hospital. (J.S. ¶ 20; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 209-10.)

On March 18, 2007, Meyn sent plaintiff a number of text messages that, in summary, stated that he was intensely attracted to plaintiff, he rebuked her for not wanting to make love, she would like the things he would do to her to the point that she would become addicted, and the next time he sees her they will be doing more than cuddling. (J.S. ¶ 54; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 220-21; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36), Ex. 66.)

C. Evaluations

Plaintiffs performance as an RN in the OB department was reviewed by Lauffer through a performance improvement plan on July 14, 2006, and a performance management review on August 6, 2006. (J.S. ¶ 6; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 32), Exs. 10, 11.) Plaintiff contends that one criticism made in the performance improvement plan concerning an inappropriate statement plaintiff made about the OB department to individuals in another department did not occur. (PL's Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 52.)

In June 2007 plaintiff started having problems with Leonard while working as the health education specialist. (J.S. ¶ 57; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 36) at 63.) Plaintiff was issued a corrective action by Leonard on June 8, 2007, which noted plaintiff's performance issues were: “(1) unprofessional behavior/poor impulse control/reactionary; (2) inability to work with co-worker towards common goal; (3) difficulty accepting criticism from manager/supervisor.” (J.S. ¶ 22; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 32), Ex. 22; Def.'s App. in Supp. of Mot., Tab 3 (“Leonard Dec. (Docket No. 32)”) ¶ 3.) The first two performance issues in the corrective action relate to personal conflicts with plaintiff and her co-worker, Dona Householder (“Householder”). (J.S. ¶ 22(a); Pl.'s Dep. (Docket No. 32), Ex. 22.) Householder received a corrective action from Leonard on April 16, 2007 for violation of department work rules and policies. (J.S. ¶ 22(a); Def.'s Supplemental App. in Supp. of Mot. (Docket No. 40), Tab 1 (“2nd Leonard Dec. (Docket No. 40)”), Ex. A ¶ 3.) The written warning resulted, in part, from issues relating to the ongoing conflict with plaintiff. (2nd Leonard Dec. (Docket No. 40), Ex. A ¶ 4.)

On the same day that plaintiff received the corrective action, she also received a performance management review rating her overall performance as a 2.05 out of 3. (J.S. ¶ 25; Pl.'s Dep. (Docket...