Allen v. Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation and Corr.

• Citation: 128 F.Supp.2d 483
• Decision Date: 19 January 2001
• Docket Number: No. 99CV797.,99CV797.
• Parties: Ernest ALLEN, Plaintiff, v. OHIO DEPARTMENT OF REHABILITATION AND CORRECTION, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

128 F.Supp.2d 483

Ernest ALLEN, Plaintiff, v. OHIO DEPARTMENT OF REHABILITATION AND CORRECTION, et al., Defendants.

No. 99CV797.

United States District Court, S.D. Ohio, Eastern Division.

January 19, 2001.

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Retanio Rucker, The Smith & Rucker Co., L.P.A., Columbus, OH, for Plaintiff.

Robert Lee Griffin, Ohio Attorney General — 2 Employment Law Section, Columbus, OH, for Defendants.

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

MARBLEY, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter is before the Court on the Motion for Summary Judgment of Defendants Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections ("ODRC"), Reginald A. Wilkinson, Patricia Andrews and Rukhsana Akram. Defendants filed their Motion for Summary Judgment, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, on September 28, 2000. The case is in federal court on the basis of federal question jurisdiction.

Plaintiff Ernest Allen brought suit against ODRC, Akram in her individual capacity and Wilkinson, Andrews and Akram in their officially capacities, under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He alleges that he has been discriminated against because he is African-American. Plaintiff seeks compensatory damages, declaratory and injunctive relief, attorneys' fees, costs, punitive damages and special damages. The Defendants seek summary judgment on all claims.

Essentially, Plaintiff claims that if he were white: (1) inmate complaints about him would be investigated as to their veracity, and, where appropriate, the inmates would be sanctioned; (2) his probationary period would not have been extended for ninety days, and (3) he would not have received a one-day suspension.

For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment.

II. FACTS

Because this matter is before the Court's attention on Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, the facts presented are in the light most favorable to Plaintiff.

A. Procedural Facts

On September 29, 1998, Plaintiff Allen filed a Charge of Discrimination — alleging race discrimination — with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and the EEOC. On May 13, 1999, the EEOC issued Plaintiff a right-to-sue letter. On August 16, 1999, Plaintiff filed his Complaint in this Court. On September 28, 1999, Defendants filed their Answer. On September 28, 2000, Defendants filed the instant Motion for Summary Judgment.

B. Operative Facts

Defendant ODRC is a state agency that operates the Franklin Pre Release Center ("Franklin Center"), a minimum- and medium — security correctional facility for women located in Columbus, Ohio. Defendant Wilkinson is the current director of ODRC. Defendant Andrews is the current warden of the Franklin Center. Defendant Akram was the warden of the Franklin Center at the time of each of the alleged acts of discrimination.

On June 9, 1997, Plaintiff Allen, an African-American male, was appointed as a Correction Officer with Defendant ODRC's Franklin Center. The effective date of Plaintiff's appointment was July 14, 1997. ODRC Correction Officers are required to complete successfully a one-year probationary period; Plaintiff's was originally scheduled to conclude on August 4, 1998.¹ From July 1997 until April 2000, Plaintiff worked during the second shift (2:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.). During that time period, Plaintiff's supervisor was Captain Robert Keuchler. Plaintiff is still employed by ODRC as a Correction Officer at the Franklin Center, and has been so employed continuously since his start-date.

As a member of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association ("OCSEA"), Plaintiff is bound by the provisions of the applicable collective bargaining agreement between OCSEA and the State of Ohio. During his probationary period, Plaintiff's employment was governed by Article 6, "Probationary Employees," of the 1997-2000 labor contract. Section 6.01, "Probationary Periods," of the labor contract states that the probationary period of Correction Officers lasts 365 days. Section 6.01 also states that OCSEA and ODRC can mutually agree to extend the probationary period of an employee, and that ODRC has the sole discretion to discipline or discharge probationary employees.

Several times during his probationary period, Plaintiff cited Inmates Carr, Hudson, Robinson, Scott and Whitney for various violations of ODRC and Franklin Center regulations. Plaintiff also cited other inmates for infractions. Inmates Carr, Hudson, Robinson, Scott and Whitney accused Plaintiff of showing favoritism to certain inmates and exchanging phone numbers with them. Plaintiff denies these allegations. Plaintiff requested that the institution investigate these accusations and, where appropriate, discipline the inmates. ODRC and Warden Akram, while finding that there was insufficient evidence to discipline Plaintiff for inmate favoritism, did not act on Plaintiff's requests to discipline the inmates who made the allegations.

On May 4, 1998, Nicholas G. Menedis, the Franklin Center's Deputy Warden of Operations, provided an "action plan" to Plaintiff. In the action plan, Mr. Menedis indicated that inmates had made allegations about Plaintiff that created concerns, and that the purpose of the action plan was to help Plaintiff correct the perceptions that led to the inmates' complaints. The action plan was signed by Plaintiff's supervisor, Captain Keuchler.

Defendants allege that Plaintiff committed violations of the Standards of Employee Conduct ("SEC") during his probationary period. On May 24, 1998, Plaintiff retrieved a college textbook from his car, which was parked in the employee parking lot. The parties disagree about whether Plaintiff "left his post" in order to retrieve the textbook, with Plaintiff claiming that he did not because he was working "on the yard" that day and that yard officers have "free reign" of the institution. Plaintiff did not receive permission to retrieve his textbook. He also did not receive permission to bring the textbook into the facility, which Defendants claim was in violation of the Franklin Center's "Institutional Entrance" policy.

On May 30, 1998, Plaintiff was involved in a verbal altercation with Rita Morrissey, another Correction Officer. Based upon the incident, Plaintiff was charged with making abusive statements toward another employee. Plaintiff admits the incident occurred and admits that he called CO Morrissey "two-faced." Captain Keuchler's July 13, 1998 report places the blame for the conflict squarely on Morrissey.

Defendants also allege that, on June 19, 1998, Plaintiff walked around the front entrance metal detector instead of walking through it. While Plaintiff does not deny that such an action would be a violation of the Franklin Center's "Institutional Entrance" and "Metal Detector" policies, he does deny that he ever did such a thing. In addition to his own testimony, he has adduced an affidavit from Venita S. White, wherein she states that she "was present when Correction Officer Randolph Alfred ... recanted his original statement relative to Mr. Allen going around the metal detector to clock in. Rather, CO Alfred admitted that Mr. Allen did not go around the metal detector, but went through the detector as required." Defendants also allege that, when CO Alfred called Plaintiff back to walk through the metal detector, Plaintiff became verbally abusive, calling CO Alfred an "ass" and stating: "If it was one of your buddies, you would let him clock in before clearing the metal detector."

On July 27, 1998, Major Jay Worley wrote a memorandum, which was intended to be an addendum to Plaintiff's mid-probationary evaluation, to Defendant Akram. Major Worley noted that inmates had complained about Plaintiff's favoritism toward other inmates, and that Plaintiff's ability to direct and coordinate the behavior of other individuals was questionable. On July 28, 1998, Major Worley submitted to Plaintiff two "performance action plans," which outlined areas of improvement for Plaintiff to pursue.

Sometime before July 31, 1998, Deputy Warden Menedis and Major Worley recommended that Plaintiff be "probationarily removed."² Defendant Akram instead proposed to the OCSEA that Plaintiff's probationary period be extended. Defendant Akram informed the OCSEA that she would terminate Plaintiff's employment with ODRC unless the union agreed to an extension of Allen's probationary status. The union agreed to Ms. Akram's proposal. On July 31, 1998, Plaintiff Allen's probationary period was extended ninety days. The extension agreement was signed, under the phrase, "All appropriate parties have signed below indicating their agreement with the extension of Officer Allen's probationary period," by: Plaintiff, OCSEA Chapter President Venita White, Defendant Akram, Administrative Deputy Deb Timmerman Cooper, Labor Relations Officer Gerald Clam, Personnel Officer 3 Geri Sutter and Major Worley. Defendants claim that the extension was a result of Plaintiff's alleged rules infractions. Apparently, only one other ODRC Correction Officer's probationary period has been extended for violations of department rules — that of Nicole Edwards, a white female. In November of 1998, Plaintiff passed his probationary period.

On July 31, 1998, ODRC conducted a pre-disciplinary hearing regarding Plaintiff's conduct on May 24, 1998 and June 19, 1998. Plaintiff was given the opportunity to respond to the allegations against him and "tell [his] side of the story" at this hearing. After the hearing, Hearing Officer Deb Timmerman Cooper concluded that there was just cause to discipline Plaintiff for violating Rule 7, "Failure to follow post orders, administrative regulations, policies, procedures or directives," and Rule 12, "Making obscene gestures or statements or false or abusive statements toward or concerning another employee, supervisor, or member...