Hafford v. Seidner

• Decision Date: 30 October 1998
• Docket Number: DEFENDANT-APPELLEE,PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,No. 97-4240,97-4240
• Citation: 183 F.3d 506
• Parties: (6th Cir. 1999) VAN M. HAFFORD,, v. LARRY SEIDNER, WARDEN, LORAIN CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION, OHIO DEPARTMENT OF REHABILITATION AND CORRECTION, Argued:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 506

183 F.3d 506 (6th Cir. 1999)

VAN M. HAFFORD, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT, v. LARRY SEIDNER, WARDEN, LORAIN CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION, OHIO DEPARTMENT OF REHABILITATION AND CORRECTION, DEFENDANT-APPELLEE.

No. 97-4240

U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit

Argued: October 30, 1998

Decided and Filed: July 12, 1999

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland. No. 95-02388--Solomon Oliver, Jr., District Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Thomas K. Mast (argued and briefed), Cleveland, Ohio, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Robert L. Griffin, Assistant Attorney General (argued and briefed), Winston M. Ford (briefed), David P. Katko, Office of the Attorney General OF Ohio, Employment Law Section, Columbus, Ohio, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before: Daughtrey and Moore, Circuit Judges; Cohn, District Judge.^*

AMENDED OPINION

Cohn, District Judge.

This is a race and religion-based hostile work environment and retaliation case under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and 42 U.S.C. §1981. Plaintiff-Appellant Van M. Hafford (Hafford) appeals from a decision granting summary judgment in favor of Defendant-Appellee Larry D. Seidner, Warden of the Lorain Correctional Institution (Lorain), Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC). Hafford, a Correction Officer at Lorain, directed his claims against ODRC as an employer. For the reasons that follow, the decision will be affirmed as to all claims except the claim of race-based hostile work environment under Title VII.

I.

In reviewing a summary judgment decision, we must view the facts and all inferences drawn from the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587 (1986).

A.

Hafford, an African-American and a member of the Muslim religion, has been a correction officer at Lorain since September 8, 1992. He did not pass his initial probationary period of 120 days. After the warden at the time extended the period an additional 60 days, Hafford passed his probation and became a permanent employee in March 1993.

Beginning in February 1993, several incident reports were filed involving Hafford and other correction officers. On February 28, 1993, Christopher Seitz (Seitz) reported that he observed Hafford shaking hands with an inmate; that later in the evening, when an inmate requested ice to perform a Muslim ritual, Hafford challenged an order Seitz gave to the inmate in the inmate's presence; and that Hafford repeatedly screamed "Allah is no joke" at Seitz in the inmate's presence. Hafford's report provided a different account of the incident. Hafford reported that he had observed Seitz mocking a Muslim inmate about his faith and that Hafford refused Seitz's invitation to participate in the mockery. An investigation found both officers responsible, each was issued a Notice of Alleged Misconduct, and neither was disciplined. After this incident, four other correction officers told Hafford they heard he had prayed with Muslim inmates, and asked if this was true. Hafford received a telephone call on the prison's internal telephone system stating, "you're dead." Hafford recognized the caller as Seitz. He received the same call again later, and this time recognized the caller as a different correction officer. Hafford orally reported these incidents to his supervisors. No action was taken.

In April, 1993, a riot broke out at another correctional facility in Ohio involving a Muslim group of inmates among others. The warden and deputy warden asked Hafford to refrain from fraternizing or according special treatment to Lorain's Muslim inmates or greeting them in Arabic until the situation at the other facility stabilized. During the meeting the wardens spoke in an offensive and contemptuous manner about his Muslim faith and accused him of participating in a holy war. The deputy warden threatened Hafford with loss of his job and expressed concern about the effect of his religious expression on "my Aryan Officers."

Hafford contacted the ODRC Bureau of Equal Opportunity to report that he had received death threats and other harassment from co-workers based on race and religion and that management was hostile to him. The warden at the time then met with Hafford regarding the death threats. The warden demanded that Hafford stop praying with the inmates and referred to Hafford's religion in a contemptuous manner.

In May or June 1993, Hafford's request for transfer to another facility was granted. In July, however, the warden of that facility informed Hafford that his probationary period at the facility was not successful and that he would be transferred back to Lorain. During the meeting, Hafford started to read to the warden from the Koran. The warden responded: "That's the problem."

When Hafford returned to Lorain in November he experienced increased hostility. He reported that another correction officer, Officer Zech, referred to him in a racially offensive manner. One month later he specified that Officer Zech had referred to him as a "black-ass fucking nigger." Immediately after the report, Officer Zech went on disability leave due to a broken leg. When he returned in March, a pre-disciplinary hearing was scheduled, and then rescheduled, and ultimately held in May. Soon after Lorain responded to a written inquiry from the EEOC regarding the incident, Zech was issued the notice of pre-disciplinary hearing. Two months after the hearing, and eight months after the investigated behavior, Officer Zech was issued a written reprimand.

In January, 1994, Hafford reported receiving harassing and threatening calls over Lorain's internal phone system. On January 11, 1994, a caller stated, "You wanta swang, bitch." Hafford interpreted this phrase to refer to race-related lynching. He conducted his own investigation of the identity of the caller over the internal phone system by calling and questioning several officers. Because he made the calls without authorization he was given a Notice of Alleged Misconduct. Hafford submitted a report dated January 15, 1994, and marked as being received after a January 31, 1994 meeting, in which he reported the following regarding the anonymous caller:

based upon the microsounds and sound effects of tonality and voice, I hold Officer Trease in contempt of Allegations of Illegal activity, and also Officer Williams whom were both working 9A. Officer Williams is having marital problems. Officer Trease is a immature officer and was also trying to impress officer Williams. Sexism is the #1 cause of crime. I also hold Lt. Robinson and Capt. Darling in contempt of "The Ohio Ethics Law and Related Statutes."

In another report, dated January 11, 1994 and marked as being received on January 31, 1994, Hafford again identified Officers Trease and Williams as the officers involved in the anonymous phone call. A handwritten notation in the "Disposition By Warden" section of the report, and the text written by Hafford, indicate that an announcement was made to the general work force at roll call concerning misuse of the internal phone system. It does not appear that Trease and Williams were ever questioned, or that any investigatory action was taken.

On January 16, 1994, Hafford reported receiving another anonymous phone call in which the caller hissed "niggaaaah." A handwritten notation in the "Disposition By Warden" section of the report states: "Rick please ask CO Hafford to identify who he believes the caller is and an incident report so we can investigate." Hafford filed a second report dated January 16, 1994, in which he identified the caller as Officer Brewer. It does not appear that any investigatory action was taken.

Hafford was subsequently disciplined on several occasions. In April, Hafford's request for a Saturday off was denied on the ground that three other people had already requested the day off. On Saturday, Hafford called in sick stating that he was fatigued from picking up his daughter. He was issued a Report of Corrective Counseling. In July, Hafford was issued another Report of Corrective Counseling for writing an incident report and then writing another report five months later with a substantially different factual rendition of the same incident.

On April 23, 1994, Hafford met with Captain Darling who made offensive and threatening statements to him, including asking whether he was scared to die, and telling Hafford that Hafford's religion dictated that he hate white people. On July 22, 1994, Hafford reported that an anonymous caller made a derogatory remark. In a report dated the same day, Hafford reported another incident in which he asked Officer Thomas who was calling for him and the officer replied: "They said it's the 'Grim Reaper' and hung up the phone." The report indicates that Officer Thomas was consulted concerning the issue. In the "Action Taken" section of both reports, the Captain wrote: "Called every unit and told the officers to stop the behavior."

On February 24, 1995, Hafford filed charges with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), alleging discrimination based on race and religion. In the ensuing months, several correction officers spoke to Hafford in an offensive and threatening manner. On June 2, 1995, Hafford reported that a correction officer pointed a gun at him. In response, Warden Seidner contacted the Ohio State Highway Patrol which conducted an official investigation. The investigation revealed that Hafford was "not telling the complete truth" and was "trying to deceive the institution."

On February 27, 1996, during the course of a training session on security threat groups, the subject of Muslim inmates as a security threat group was raised. Hafford took this as a statement that all Muslims are gang members and confronted the officer conducting the training in an abusive manner.

In ...