Asiedu v. Broadreach Med. Res.
| Decision Date | 13 September 2022 |
| Docket Number | 19 Civ. 11825 (ER) |
| Parties | TRINA ASIEDU, Plaintiff, v. BROADREACH MEDICAL RESOURCES and J.N. SAVASTA CORP., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Trina Asiedu, proceeding pro se, brings this action against her former employer, Broadreach Medical Resources (“Broadreach”), and J.N. Savasta Corp. (“JNS” and together with Broadreach “Defendants”), alleging discrimination and retaliation on the basis of race and gender in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. (“Title VII”), 42 U.S.C § 1981, and the New York State Human Rights Law, N.Y Exec. Law § 290, et seq. (“NYSHRL”). Before the Court is Defendants' motion for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, seeking dismissal of the Complaint in its entirety. Doc. 34. For the reasons set forth below, Defendants' motion is GRANTED.
Asiedu is a Black woman. Doc. 37 ¶ 2. She began employment at Broadreach in 2005 as a temporary employee in member services and became a full-time employee on September 24, 2007 as a customer services representative. Doc. 49 ¶ 15. During her employment with Broadreach, she was promoted several times, as further discussed below.
Broadreach is in the business of pharmacy benefits administration with approximately 20 to 25 employees. Doc. 37 ¶ 3. Joseph Savasta is the Chief Executive Officer and owns 75% of Broadreach. Id. ¶¶ 4, 6. Timothy Teen became the President on September 27, 2015 and owns 25% of Broadreach. Id. ¶¶ 5, 6.
JNS[2] develops employee benefit programs for its clients. Id. ¶ 7. Savasta is the founder, President, and owner of JNS. Id. ¶ 8. trie parties dispute whether Teen has ever been employed by JNS. Doc. 49 ¶ 9.[3] Asiedu has never been employed by JNS. Doc. 37 ¶ 10.[4] Nor has she ever reported to, received assignments from, or had her compensation determined by anyone employed by JNS. Id. ¶¶ 11-13.
Broadreach and JNS are both owned by Savasta. Id. ¶ 14. trie companies have separate lease and sublease agreements for office space, bank accounts, credit cards, accounting and bookkeeping, invoices, tax returns, and management. Id. trie parties dispute whether the companies have separate clients,[5] staff,[6] and leadership.[7] Id.; Doc. 49 ¶ 14.
Asiedu first worked for Broadreach as a temporary employee in member services from 2005 to 2007. Doc. 49 ¶ 15. She became an employee on September 24, 2007 as a member or customer services representative. Id. Within member services, she was promoted, first to senior customer service representative in mid-2012, Doc. 46-3 at Tr. 33:12-17, and later to a team lead position in 2014, id. at Tr. 34:15-20. Doc. 49 ¶ 17. Asiedu received several promotions and accompanying increases in salary during her time at Broadreach. Id. ¶¶ 17, 28. In 2015, Teen created a new client services representative position that would interact directly with Broadreach's clients and selected her to fill this role, for which she did not receive a raise. Id. ¶¶ 18, 27; see also Doc. 46-3 at Tr. 36:11-38:5. foe parties dispute whether the employees in member services, as opposed to client services, perform comparable work responsibilities and therefore receive similar compensation and whether Asiedu's new position in client services qualified as a promotion or a lateral transfer. Id. ¶¶ 19, 22. It is undisputed that Asiedu was the only person in this new role for Broadreach. Id. ¶ 18.
It is undisputed that Asiedu emailed Teen on November 23, 2016, thanking him “for seeing [her] potential and moving [her] into Client management.” Doc. 36-6. It is further undisputed that Teen had plans to promote Asiedu and move her up within Broadreach. Doc. 49 ¶ 26.
In 2012, Asiedu reported an off-site incident with Malcom Howard, a Black JNS employee, and Weslow Caple, a Black Broadreach employee, that occurred outside of work hours. Doc. 37 ¶¶ 29-30. Howard and Caple invited Asiedu to a house party at Howard's home. Doc. 46-3 at Tr. 63:2-8. At the party, Howard threw her on a bed and groped her, and Caple made sexual comments and grabbed his genital area. Id. at Tr. 63:11-64:5. She reported that Howard sexually assaulted her and Caple sexually harassed her to Wayne Fleischman, her supervisor and the Chief Operating Officer at the time, and TriNet, Broadreach's outside human resources firm. Id. at Tr. 64:6-15. In response, an investigation was conducted. Doc. 37 ¶ 31. Caple was terminated after the investigation, id. ¶ 32; see also Doc. 46-3 at Tr. 66:19-22, and Howard lost his bonus as a result of his conduct. Doc. 37 ¶ 33; see also Doc. 46-3 at Tr. 66:23-67:1. Asiedu did not have any further issues with Howard after this incident. Doc. 37 ¶ 33.
Asiedu notes that from approximately 2014 to 2015 when she was the team lead in customer service, the call center representatives would speak only in Spanish among themselves despite knowing that she could not understand them. Doc. 49 ¶¶ 97, 99. She testified that there were situations where the representatives would laugh and speak in Spanish whenever she walked by. Doc. 46-3 at Tr. 92:23-25. She reported this situation to Broadreach management, including Savasta and Teen, regarding “a hostile call center environment” in which she was “isolated” as a result of the representatives speaking in Spanish. Doc. 49 ¶ 97; see also Doc. 36-15 at 4, 11-12. She testified that when she expressed her discomfort with the situation, she was told that the representatives were likely not talking about her in Spanish. Doc. 46-3 at Tr. 92:17-94:15. She asserts that she was told to focus on her work. Doc. 49 ¶ 97.
In March or April 2016, Asiedu reported that she witnessed John Savasta, a white Broadreach employee and Savasta's brother, allegedly viewing pornography at work. Id. ¶¶ 34-35. After her report, Teen spoke with John Savasta, and John Savasta quit a few days later. Id. ¶¶ 36-37.[8]
On October 18, 2016, Asiedu received an anonymous email at her Broadreach email address that contained sexually harassing and racially discriminatory language in addition to a photograph of male genitals. Doc. 37 ¶ 39. trie email from karimoux@yahoo.com stated: Doc. 36-15 at 7.
After Asiedu reported the email to TriNet, Teen, and Rosanna Ramos, the director of operations at Broadreach, Broadreach conducted an investigation. Doc. 37 ¶¶ 40-41. However, NCIC, Broadreach's outside information and systems technology vendor, was unable to determine the source of the email without a court order. Doc. 49 ¶ 41. On October 20, 2016, Teen sent Asiedu an email regarding the steps Broadreach, TriNet, and NCIC had taken in their investigation, proposed blocking the email address from contacting Asiedu, and expressed that “this incident is not something the Company will stand for.” Doc. 37 ¶ 43; Doc. 36-11 at 2. trie undisputed evidence in the record shows that Asiedu responded in an email saying that she appreciated how Teen, Ramos, and NCIC “jumped to [her] aid on this matter,” and that she would not “waste any more energy on this.” Doc. 49 ¶ 44; see also Doc. 36-11 at 2. Although Asiedu concedes that immediate action was taken to initiate an investigation, she takes issue with Broadreach's alleged failure to take further action, specifically pursuing a court order or questioning JNS or Broadreach employees about the email. Doc. 49 ¶¶ 41, 43-44. She alleges that although she expressed interest in pursuing the court order, Teen allegedly tried to convince her to let it go. Id. ¶ 41. She asserts her belief that if this had happened to a white employee, more steps would have been taken to determine the identity of the sender. Id. ¶ 44.
On October 24, 2016, Asiedu reported the email to TriNet. Doc. 37 ¶ 45; see also Doc. 36-15 at 11-12. While the parties dispute whether TriNet conducted a formal investigation during this time, on October 27, 2016, TriNet informed Asiedu that the investigation had concluded. Doc. 49 ¶¶ 48-49.
In a November 7, 2016 memorandum memorializing the steps taken to address Asiedu's report regarding the email and her prior complaints, TriNet representative Elizabeth Perlak documented that NCIC had tracked the email to Yahoo and determined that there was no indication that the email came from someone at Broadreach. Doc. 3615 at 3. In a conversation with Perlak Asiedu expressed her belief that Bella, an employee with JNS, sent the email based on the fact that the email was sent to her work email address and a personal dispute that resulted from Asiedu damaging Bella's suitcase months prior. Id. Asiedu informed Perlak that she and Bella had a confrontation about the suitcase, but that they had not spoken since, and that she believed Bella may have been on vacation at the time of the email. Id. Perlak advised Asiedu that TriNet and Broadreach would not be able to obtain a court order for Yahoo to identify the email address holder. Id. at 4. Perlak further advised Asiedu to speak with her local police authority if she needed an order of protection and that Broadreach would cooperate to the extent possible. Id. Finally, Perlak assured Asiedu that if there was evidence that the email came from an individual associated with Broadreach, it...
To continue reading
Request your trial