Bolanos v. Ne. Ill. Univ.
| Decision Date | 04 January 2017 |
| Docket Number | No. 14 CV 7533,14 CV 7533 |
| Parties | KIMBERLY BOLANOS, Plaintiff v. NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, DANIEL WEBER, and SHARON HAHS, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Plaintiff Kimberly Bolanos, a Caucasian woman, worked in the registrar's office of Northeastern Illinois University ("NEIU") under the supervision of the University Registrar, Daniel Weber. Bolanos disapproved of the practices of several other workers, who, she claims, came to work late, misreported their time, and engaged in personal activities while at work. Bolanos confronted these other workers from time to time; after one such confrontation, another employee claimed that Bolanos had created a hostile and threatening work environment. After a hearing, NEIU terminated Bolanos's employment. Bolanos sued NEIU, Weber, and NEIU's president, Sharon Hahs, asserting a host of claims: race and sex discrimination; retaliation; violations of procedural and substantive due process; violation of the Stored Communications Act, arising from NEIU's blocking access to Bolanos's e-mail account; retaliatory discharge; and intentional infliction of emotional distress ("IIED"). Defendants have moved for summary judgment on all counts. The court previously dismissed some claims against Weber and Hahs, and now grants summary judgment to all Defendants on all remaining claims.
Plaintiff Kimberly Bolanos was a graduate student at NEIU, and began working there in June 2007 as a Graduate Assistant—is it unclear what this position entailed. (Am. Compl. ¶ 10 [25]; Defs. Weber and Hahs's Answer to Am. Compl. [44] ¶ 10.) Beginning in June 2009, she was employed in the Registrar's office, in a position referred to as the Assistant Registrar of Graduate Records or, sometimes, Coordinator of Graduate Records. (Defs.' Local Rule 56.1 Statement of Facts in Supp. of Mot. for Summ. J. [63] ("DSOF") ¶ 8.) In May 2012, Avril Murray was hired as a Graduate Records Representative, under Bolanos's supervision. (DSOF ¶ 11.) Bolanos herself reported to Daniel Weber, the University Registrar;1 she and Murray were the only employees in the Graduate Admissions and Records Department who reported to him, though Weber also oversees other offices. (DSOF ¶¶ 6, 11-12.) Bolanos testified that she had supervised student workers, but stopped supervising them when she began to report to Weber.2 (DSOF ¶ 8; Pl.'s Statement of Additional Material Facts [71] ("PSOAF") ¶ 131.) Bolanos was the only one of three assistant registrars3 who occasionally worked late on special projects. (DSOF ¶ 81.) Weber assigned these projects to Bolanos because of her database management skills, and Bolanos earned positive job evaluations during her employment at NEIU. (DSOF ¶ 81; PSOAF ¶ 117.) Before being placed on administrative leave in 2014, Bolanos had limited interaction with the President of NEIU, Sharon Hahs. (DSOF ¶ 7; Pl.'s Resp. to DSOF [71] ¶ 14.)
At various times during her employment with the Registrar, Bolanos observed that other NEIU employees failed to adhere to policies regarding tardiness, absenteeism, personalactivities at work, and time reporting. In the spring of 2009,4 Bolanos told administrators, including the associate dean of the graduate college, that an employee named Martha Narvaez Vasquez ("Narvaez") had been late for work, or absent. (PSOAF ¶ 106; Dep. of Kimberly Bolanos, Ex. 3 to DSOF [63-4] ("Bolanos Dep.") 125:23-127:3.) She observed that Alice Pennamon,5 an African-American employee, was frequently absent beginning in 2011, and that Murray began socializing frequently at work in September 2013. (DSOF ¶ 73; PSOAF ¶¶ 99, 102.) On unspecified dates, during staff meetings with Weber, Bolanos also raised concerns about other employees' submitting inaccurate or fraudulent time cards. (Def.'s Resp. to PSOAF ¶ 107 [74]; Dep. of Avril Murray, Ex. 11 to DSOF [63-12] ("Murray Dep.") 47:9-16, 49:7-12.) In 2012, Bolanos participated in a mediation moderated by NEIU Ombudsperson Bradley Ginn with Murray, Narvaez, and other NEIU employees, to address their interpersonal problems and improve teamwork.6 (DSOF ¶ 13.) At the discussion, Ginn gave all employees suggestions on how to improve their relationship—Bolanos does not say what those suggestions were, but she testified that other employees agreed to inform the office when they would be late or absent. (DSOF ¶ 13; Bolanos Dep. 136:24-141:11.) Beginning in the fall of 2013, however, several further conflicts arose between Bolanos and other employees, as described below.
On September 18, 2013, there was a confrontation between Bolanos and Murray regarding Murray's interaction with a student. (DSOF ¶ 15.) Bolanos claims that the student had not completed her degree requirements and that the head of the student's academic department would not permit her to graduate. (Bolanos Dep. 148:6-152:20.) Bolanos testifiedthat Murray "had ongoing issues with" the same faculty member, though Bolanos was uncertain of the faculty member's name and did not describe Murray's alleged "issues" with this faculty member. (Id.) According to Bolanos, Murray's questioning the student about the faculty member caused the student to become upset. (Pl.'s Resp. to DSOF ¶ 15.) Bolanos and Murray both became agitated. (DSOF ¶ 16.) Weber testified that he counseled Murray about this incident,7 while Murray herself said that she did not receive any discipline for it.8 (Pl.'s Resp. to DSOF ¶ 17.) With respect to Bolanos, Weber issued a reprimand, a harsher response than counseling; he explained that he holds supervisors, including Bolanos, to a higher standard than non-supervisors. (DSOF ¶¶ 17-18.) Weber also directed, or at least suggested, that Bolanos take anger management classes, and Bolanos did so.9 (Pl.'s Resp. to DSOF ¶ 20; DSOF ¶ 82.) At some unknown point later, other employees learned that Bolanos was taking anger management classes. It is unclear how they found out; Weber told Bolanos he did not know who made that information public. (DSOF ¶ 82.) Bolanos notes that on September 20, a few days after the September 18 incident, Murray left the main office doors unlocked but was not disciplined—presumably a violation of policy, but the record does not reveal how serious it was. (PSOAF ¶ 111.)
On November 4, 2013, there was an incident between Bolanos and Verla Grays, who held the title of Graduate Admissions and Records Supervisor, and reported to Steven Pajak, the Associate Director of Admission Review and Processing (it is unclear where this falls in the hierarchy with respect to the registrar). (DSOF ¶¶ 22-23; Dep. of Steven Pajak, Ex. 18 to DSOF [63-19] 7:3-9.) Grays supervised Narvaez. (DSOF ¶ 24.) Bolanos became upset because Grays was angry and interrupted Bolanos in her office; Grays claimed that she did so because Bolanos refused to help answer the main office phone. (Pl.'s Resp. to DSOF ¶ 27.) On November 11, Tressa Randolph, a representative from NEIU Human Resources, followed up in response to a request from Bolanos's anger management counselor for information about Bolanos's progress.10 (DSOF ¶ 29; Ex. 19 to DSOF [63-20].) In response to Randolph's inquiry, Weber told her about the incident with Grays. (DSOF ¶ 29; Ex. 19 to DSOF [63-20].) In particular, Weber e-mailed Randolph that "[t]here appears to have been a confrontation with another employee" and that "[i]f accurate, then Kim [Bolanos] has not had professional, respectful, and appropriate oral conversations with NEIU staff[,]" but he acknowledged he still needed to "piece together what occurred." (Ex. 19 to DSOF [65-20].)
Neither Grays nor Bolanos was disciplined for this incident; Bolanos claims Grays was given leniency because she was new to her supervisory position. It is not clear whether Weber himself was involved in Grays' lack of punishment (DSOF ¶¶ 30-31; Bolanos Dep. at 82:8-83:9), but he testified that neither Grays nor Bolanos was disciplined because both were considered to be partially at fault. (DSOF ¶¶ 30-31.) Grays told Bolanos that she was too hard to work with, and also said "You can't expect me to be nice to you when I'm mad at you." (DSOF ¶ 28; PSOAF ¶ 112.) Bolanos claims that neither Weber nor Pajak, Grays's supervisor,responded properly to these comments, though it is unclear whether they were aware of them. (PSOAF ¶ 112.) Bolanos does not specify how she believes Weber or Pajak should have responded, but she complained that Grays "wasn't reprimanded for her unprofessional behavior." (Bolanos Dep. 83:22-84:3.)
On January 15, 2014, Bolanos "yell[ed] at" Narvaez for being late to work. (Pl.'s Resp. to DSOF ¶ 32.) Narvaez claims she was less than ten minutes late (DSOF ¶ 32; Ex. 20 to DSOF [63-21]), and that, although Bolanos did not directly threaten her, Bolanos's loud reaction made Narvaez feel unsafe. (DSOF ¶ 32; Dep. of Martha Narvaez Vasquez, Ex. 10 to DSOF [63-11] ("Narvaez Dep.") 54:16-55:14.) Narvaez reported this incident to her own supervisor, Grays. (DSOF ¶ 33.) Whether Narvaez was disciplined for tardiness is uncertain; Narvaez testified that Grays gave her a verbal warning, but Grays testified she never gave any warnings as a supervisor. (Pl.'s Resp. to DSOF ¶ 34.)
Following the January 15, 2014 confrontation, Narvaez, a civil service union employee, complained to the union, which filed a union grievance against Bolanos for workplace harassment.11 (DSOF ¶ 35.) Narvaez also complained to Randolph that Bolanos harassed her; Bolanos agrees with Defendants' characterization that she "micromanaged" Narvaez, though she was not Narvaez's supervisor. (DSOF ¶ 35; see Narvaez Dep. 22:13-18.) Narvaez also spoke with NEIU's Behavioral Concern Team (DSOF ¶ 37) which, Narvaez explained, "deals with people that might...
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