McCaslin v. Cornhusker State Industries

• Decision Date: 20 December 1996
• Docket Number: No. 4:CV93-3024.,4:CV93-3024.
• Citation: 952 F.Supp. 652
• Parties: Bonnie McCASLIN, Plaintiff, v. CORNHUSKER STATE INDUSTRIES, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Nebraska

Page 652

952 F.Supp. 652

Bonnie McCASLIN, Plaintiff, v. CORNHUSKER STATE INDUSTRIES, et al., Defendants.

No. 4:CV93-3024.

United States District Court, D. Nebraska.

December 20, 1996.

Bonnie McCaslin, York, NE, pro se.

Marie C. Pawol, Assistant Attorney General, Lincoln, NE, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS FOR FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM

URBOM, Senior District Judge.

This case is before me on the defendants' motion to dismiss the plaintiff's complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), (2), (5), and (6). (Filing 41.) The plaintiff, Bonnie McCaslin, was incarcerated at the Nebraska Center for Women, a state correctional institution. She brings this Section 1983 action and Title VII claim against Cornhusker State Industries, the Nebraska Department of Correction Services, and various employees of these entities. McCaslin alleges that she was sexually harassed in the workplace by fellow inmates while incarcerated and that the defendants, as her employer, were aware of the actions but failed to take corrective steps, and eventually, terminated her at the behest of the harassers. The defendants have moved to dismiss. After a careful review of this matter I shall grant the defendants' motion and dismiss the plaintiff's complaint.

BACKGROUND

The plaintiff alleges that she was employed by the Data Entry Division of Cornhusker State Industries as a computer operator while incarcerated at the Nebraska Center for Women (NCW). She claims that her performance in that position was satisfactory or better, that she received raises in salary until she was earning the top-pay rate. McCaslin alleges that in January 1992, she and another Data Entry Division employee, inmate Jo Helen Williams, were in the bathroom alone. At that time Williams said: "I love you. You know that, don't you?" Plaintiff asserts that after Williams realized McCaslin would not reciprocate, the inmate threatened to make the plaintiff's life "as miserable as she possibly could." (Filing 2.)

McCaslin claims that Williams then began harassing her and that due to her dominant personality other inmates also participated. She claims that Williams subjected her to the use of offensive language and persistent statements as to with whom Williams was having sexual contact. Allegedly, in April 1992, Mary Mast, the supervisor at Data Entry, was aware of the harassment the plaintiff was receiving and intervened to some degree, allegedly including a meeting between Williams, her counselor and Mast. This, however, did not eliminate the harassment and the plaintiff contends that Mast was ineffective and failed to control the situation. As a result, McCaslin alleges that Mast allowed her to be sexually, mentally, and emotionally harassed. In July 1992, Williams became the lead operator at Data Entry, allowing her to dispense work to other employees. The plaintiff contends that Williams placed more work on McCaslin's desk than on other employees' desks and she alleges that work quotas were placed on her, while not on other inmate-employees. McCaslin states that she was fired on September 1, 1992, and thus, denied her bonus, her earned paid vacation, and severance pay. She alleges that Mast terminated her at the behest of Williams.

The plaintiff has named as defendants, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS); Cornhusker State Industries (CSI); Tom Mason, CSI Production Manager; and Mary Mast, Supervisor of Data Entry. Harold W. Clarke, Larry Wayne, and the Nebraska Center for Women have been dismissed as parties.

The plaintiff commenced this action on January 6, 1993; one of nineteen separate cases filed that day by McCaslin. She brought two claims in this action, one a due process claim and the other a claim for employment discrimination pursuant to Title VII. The magistrate judge recommended dismissal of the plaintiff's claims for failure to state a claim after McCaslin had been given the opportunity to amend her complaint. (Filing 13.) I adopted his recommendation and dismissed the plaintiff's claims. (Filing 16.) McCaslin appealed to the Eighth Circuit. The Eighth Circuit held that dismissal of McCaslin's claims pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) before the service of process was improper. See McCaslin v. Cornhusker State Indus., et al., 1995 WL 141732, *1 (8th Cir. Apr. 4, 1995) (unpubl.decision). It concluded that the dismissal of the plaintiff's due process claim was harmless error, but that dismissal of McCaslin's Title VII claim was not. Id. at *1-2. The case was affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.

On remand, the magistrate judge recommended dismissal of certain defendants and ordered service of process upon those remaining. (Filing 29.) In filing 33, I adopted the magistrate judge's recommendation. The defendants have been served and the magistrate judge has conducted an initial review of the plaintiff's complaint. The defendants have filed the instant motion to dismiss.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The defendants have moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) (lack of subject matter jurisdiction), (b)(2) (lack of personal jurisdiction), (b)(5) (insufficiency of service), and (b)(6) (failure to state a claim). See FED. R. CIV. P. 12(b). I shall apply the standard of review applicable to a Rule 12(b)(6) in analyzing the plaintiff's action. Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), "a motion to dismiss a complaint should not be granted unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts which would entitle him to relief." Morton v. Becker, 793 F.2d 185, 187 (8th Cir.1986) (citing Thomas W. Garland, Inc. v. City of St. Louis, 596 F.2d 784, 787 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 899, 100 S.Ct. 208, 62 L.Ed.2d 135 (1979)); Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 2232-33, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984). In resolving such motions, all well-pleaded allegations in the complaint must be taken as true. Furthermore, the complaint and all reasonable inferences arising therefrom must be weighed in favor of the plaintiff. Morton, 793 F.2d at 187. Because I conclude that the plaintiff does not have a cause of action at law, this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction and the action must be dismissed.

DISCUSSION

The defendants' argument supporting their motion to dismiss is two-fold. First, they contend that because McCaslin was a prisoner at the time the alleged harassment occurred and employed in a job in the state prison system, she was not an "employee" within the meaning of Title VII and, therefore, may not maintain this action. They also assert that she failed to comply with Title VII's EEOC filing requirements, and for this reason she has also failed to state a cognizable claim under Title VII. Second, the defendants argue that the plaintiff failed to properly serve them¹ and thus, the court lacks jurisdiction over the person. The plaintiff has not responded to the defendants' motion to dismiss.

Title VII and Prisoners as Employees

In relevant part, Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (1994), makes it unlawful for an employer "to discharge any individual, or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his [or her] compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's ... sex ...." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a) (1994). An employer is defined as "a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce who has fifteen or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year ...." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b) (1994). "The term `employee' means an individual employed by an employer ...." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(f) (1994).

Included in Title VII's protections is protection from sexual harassment in the workplace. Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986). The type of sexual harassment at issue in this case, as construed from McCaslin's complaint, is a hostile work environment. A claim for a sexually hostile work environment consists of the following elements: the plaintiff must show that she belongs to the class of persons protected by the statute; that she was subjected to unwelcome acts because of her gender; that the harassment affected the "compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of [her] employment;" and her employer knew or should have known of the harassment but failed to take proper remedial action. Moylan v. Maries County, 792 F.2d 746, 749 (8th Cir.1986).

The fundamental question presented in this action is whether the relationship of prison to prisoner, when that prisoner works in the state operated prison-industry, inside the prison, is employer-employee, thereby invoking on behalf of the prisoner Title VII's protections against discrimination. The defendants assert that Title VII's guarantees do not apply to the prison setting where an individual is required to engage in prison employment as a part of his or her rehabilitation and the prisoner works inside the prison and for the state-operated prison industry. They further contend that the relationship between the prisoner and the prison is not and cannot be one of employer-employee.

Few reported court decisions consider whether prisoners who are employed are protected by Title VII. See Williams v. Meese, 926 F.2d 994 (10th Cir.1991); Baker v. McNeil Island Corrs. Ctr, 859 F.2d 124 (9th Cir.1988); Walker v. City of Elba, Ala., 874 F.Supp. 361 (M.D.Ala.1994); Walton v. Federal Prison Indus., No. 89-3257-R, 1991 WL 126708 (D.Kan. June 13, 1991) A review of the cases that have is in order. In Williams, the plaintiff, a federal inmate, appealed the trial court's dismissal of his complaint for failure to state a claim. Williams alleged that "the defendants denied him certain prison job assignments, for which he was otherwise qualified, solely on the basis of his age, race, or handicap...." Williams, 926 F.2d at 996. The Tenth Circuit...