Boardman v. Serv. Emps. Int'l Union

• Decision Date: 30 September 2022
• Docket Number: 18 C 2728
• Parties: CHRISTINE BOARDMAN and TERRI BARNETT, Plaintiffs, v. SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION a/k/a SEIU, SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION NO. 73 a/k/a SEIU LOCAL 73, MARY KAY HENRY, Individually and as President of SEIU, and ELISEO MEDINA and DIAN PALMER, Individually And as Co-Trustees of SEIU LOCAL 73, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

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CHRISTINE BOARDMAN and TERRI BARNETT, Plaintiffs, v. SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION a/k/a SEIU, SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION NO. 73 a/k/a SEIU LOCAL 73, MARY KAY HENRY, Individually and as President of SEIU, and ELISEO MEDINA and DIAN PALMER, Individually And as Co-Trustees of SEIU LOCAL 73, Defendants.

No. 18 C 2728

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division

September 30, 2022

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

REBECCA R. PALLMEYER, United States District Judge.

In August 2016, the Service Employees International Union (“SEIU”) imposed an emergency trusteeship on Local 73, a subordinate union affiliated with SEIU purportedly to address a breakdown in governance at the Local. When SEIU, led by President Mary Kay Henry, imposed that trusteeship, Plaintiffs Christine Boardman and Terri Barnett were removed from their elected positions at the Local. This lawsuit followed. Boardman and Barnett allege that Henry and the other Defendants appointed the trustee not for the reasons Henry stated in her order-to address governance issues at the Local-but instead to retaliate against Plaintiffs for speech protected under the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (“LMRDA”), 29 U.S.C. § 461 et seq. According to Plaintiffs, Henry was angry with Boardman for speaking out against her and SEIU on various occasions between 2010 and 2015.

In moving for summary judgment, Defendants contend that so long as the trustee was imposed for a single permissible reason Plaintiffs' claims fail even if Plaintiffs could show Defendants also appointed the trustee out of animus. As explained below, the court agrees that Plaintiffs have not created a dispute of fact about the existence of at least one permissible purpose for the trusteeship, meaning that Defendants are entitled to summary judgment.

BACKGROUND

SEIU is an international labor union that represents workers in “health care, public services, and property-related services in the United States and Canada.” (Defs.' Statement of Material Facts (hereinafter “DSOF”) [87] ¶ 2.) Local 73, an SEIU affiliate, represents members throughout Illinois and Northwest Indiana.^[1] (Id. ¶ 3.) Local 73 has about 30,000 members and is one of the largest unions affiliated with SEIU. (Pls.' Statement of Additional Facts (hereinafter “PSOAF”) [94] ¶ 80; Defs.' Resp. to Pls.' Statement of Additional Facts (hereinafter “DSOFR”) [98] ¶ 80.) Local 73 is governed by an approximately 100-member Executive Board. (PSOAF ¶ 83.)

Defendant Mary Kay Henry, the International President of SEIU, won her first election in May 2010 and was reelected in 2012, 2016 and 2020. (DSOF ¶ 4.) Plaintiff Christine Boardman was elected president of Local 73 in November of 2000 and held that position until SEIU imposed the trusteeship on August 3, 2016. (DSOF ¶ 6; PSOAF ¶ 80; DSOFR ¶ 80.) Boardman was also elected as a member of the International SEIU Executive Board (“IEB”)-SEIU's highest governing body-in either 2001 or 2002. (See DSOF ¶¶ 6-7; PSOAF ¶ 82.) Boardman was continuously reelected to the IEB and held that position until January 18, 2018. (PSOAF ¶ 82.) Plaintiff Terri Barnett was first employed by Local 73 in 1993. (DSOF ¶ 8.) She served as its Vice President from August 7, 2015, to August 3, 2016. (Id.)

I. Boardman's Relationship with Henry

Plaintiffs identify several events between 2010 and 2016 that, they allege, led Henry to dislike Boardman. The dispositive question here is not whether there was bad blood between the parties, but whether SEIU had a valid reason for the imposing the trusteeship. The court will nevertheless review the circumstances in at least some detail.

A. Boardman Supports Henry's Opponent in Her Race for SEIU President

In 2010, Andy Stern, SEIU's then-President, announced that he was stepping down. (DSOF ¶ 5.) Two members of the SEIU Executive Board-Mary Kay Henry and Anna Berger- sought to succeed him. (DSOF ¶ 5; Pls.' Boardman Dep., Ex. F to PSOAF (hereinafter “Pls.' Boardman Dep.”) [94-2] at 14:11-17.)^[2] When a president steps down before the end of their term, the IEB elects an interim president to fill the role until a regular vote can be taken at the next international convention. (Pls.' Boardman Dep. at 14:1-15:13.) Boardman, who was on the IEB and had a vote, supported Berger over Henry. (PSOAF ¶ 84.) Boardman testified that she communicated her support for Berger to several people, but not directly to Henry. (Pls.' Boardman Dep. at 16:9-17:17.) Boardman also said that Henry's supporters talked to Boardman about changing her vote. (Id. at 16:21-24.) Henry testified that she did not learn about Boardman's support for Berger until after the election, at some point in 2010 or 2011. (Defs.' Second Henry Dep. Excerpts, Ex. RRR to DSOFR (hereinafter “Defs.' Second Henry Dep.”) [98-1] at 93:19- 94:15.)

Defendants note that the relationship between the two was sufficiently repaired that Boardman, in 2012 and 2016, accepted Henry's invitation to join her election slate for the IEB. (DSOF ¶ 74.)

B. Boardman Attempts to Obtain Financial Assistance from SEIU

When Boardman was first elected president of Local 73 in 2000, the Local had a budget deficit of $1.4 million. (PSOAF ¶ 81.) Beginning in 2010, Boardman began requesting financial assistance from SEIU. (Pls.' Boardman Dep. at 27:7-14.) There is no evidence that she made this request directly to Henry. According to Boardman, Local 73 “did not get a penny” from SEIU, even though it “routinely” gave “millions of dollars” to other locals. (Id. at 27:11, 28:13-18.) Boardman admitted, however, that she has no first-hand knowledge of what other locals received, because “[t]hat is a carefully held secret,” and she would “have to look at one of their financial summaries to really figure out who got any money and who didn't.” (Id. at 29:1-4.) Henry testified that when Boardman held “organizing drives,” Local 73, “like many, many locals” received “financial support from the International Union.”^[3] (Defs.' Second Henry Dep. at 95:8-20.)

C. Boardman Attempts to Organize the Illinois Nurses Association

Boardman testified that, in 2012, “2000 nurses in the Illinois Nurses Association”-“an entirely independent union”-“wanted to join Local 73.” (Pls.' Boardman Dep. at 18:24-19:5.) Boardman met with the Association and “proposed” to Henry that they “become part of Local 73.” (Id. at 19:6-14.) Boardman testified that Henry told her she could “go ahead,” but soon afterward, Boardman learned that SEIU had already made an agreement with another union, the California Nurses Association, which gave that union the exclusive right to organize nurses in the Midwest. (Id. at 18:13-23, 20:9-21:7; PSOAF ¶ 86.) Boardman stated that she told Henry that SEIU was “making a big mistake.” (Pls.' Boardman Dep. at 22:2-4.) Boardman also told Henry she was upset with her regarding the situation, but “it's not like there were raised voices or anything.” (Id. at 21:8-13, 22:8-9.)

D. Boardman Seeks to Organize Federally Qualified Health Corporation Workers

In early 2014, Local 73 began competing with another SEIU-affiliated union to organize health clinic workers at Federally Qualified Health Corporation (“FQHC”) facilities in Cook County, Illinois. (“Doyle Report, Ex. JJJ to DSOFR [98-1] at 32.) Pursuant to the SEIU Constitution and Bylaws, the IEB appointed a hearing officer to decide which local had jurisdiction and ultimately adopted his recommendation that both locals pause their attempts to organize the clinic. (Id. at 40-41; DSOFR ¶ 87.)

Boardman found this “pretty upsetting” because “every other public union was allowed to have jurisdiction over FQHC” clinics in their region. (Pls.' Boardman Dep. at 23:9-24.) Boardman believed it was a “phony hearing,” and in an email to Henry and other SEIU officials, Boardman criticized the hearing officer. (Id. at 24:1; Boardman Email on FQHC Organizing, Ex. P to PSOAF (hereinafter “Boardman FQHC Email”) [94-3] at 53.) Boardman wrote that “the rules that [SEIU] ha[d] set for this organizing” were “ridiculous” and that the decision “only supports what most staff believe-that [Local 73] will never get a fair shake from the International.” (Boardman FQHC Email at 53.) Boardman also said the decision showed her staff that they “are the ‘step-children' of the International Union.” (Id.)

E. Boardman Opposes SEIU's Endorsement of Hillary Clinton

In 2015, after a “robust debate,” SEIU endorsed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, an endorsement that Henry supported. (Defs.' First Henry Dep. Excerpts, Ex. G to DSOF (hereinafter “Defs.' First Henry Dep.”) [87-1] at 52:5-17.) Boardman wanted SEIU to endorse Bernie Sanders instead.^[4] (PSOAF ¶ 85; DSOFR ¶ 85.) Boardman was not at the IEB meeting when the endorsement decision was made, and she did not communicate with Henry about it, but she did (at an unspecified time) convey her preference for Sanders in a phone call with Eileen Kirlin, an SEIU Executive Vice President. (Pls.' Boardman Dep. at 58:4-17.) Boardman does not know whether Kirlin told Henry. (Id. at 60:3-12.) Henry testified that she did not learn that Boardman favored Sanders until preparing for her deposition in this case. (Defs.' First Henry Dep. at 52:18-53:1.)

II. Tension Develops Between Brandon and Boardman

In April 2015, Matthew Brandon was elected Secretary Treasurer for Local 73. (Apr. 24, 2015 Local 73 Meeting Minutes, Ex. YY to DSOF [87-3] at 105.) During an August 2015 meeting of the Local Executive Board, Brandon opposed Boardman's recommendation that Terri Barnett fill a vacant vice president position. (DSOF ¶ 42.) Brandon opposed appointing any vice president, given Local 73's budget deficit.^[5] (Aug. 7, 2015 Meeting Minutes, Ex. Z to DSOF (hereinafter “Aug. 7,...