Brown v. Adams & Assocs., Case No. 4:19-cv-01864-MTS
| Decision Date | 15 December 2020 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 4:19-cv-01864-MTS |
| Parties | MARILYN BROWN, et al., Plaintiffs, v. ADAMS AND ASSOCIATES, INC., et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri |
Plaintiff LaShanté Wade was hired by Defendant Adams and Associates ("Adams") in October 2016. Adams is a Job Corps Center Operator, contracting with the United States Department of Labor to run various Job Corps Centers in the United States. Adams operated the St. Louis Job Corps Center (the "Center") for the entirety of Wade's employment there. In June 2017, Wade played a role in reporting a claim of sexual harassment against Timothy Chambers, the Center's director at the time. She was fired in August 2017 because, her supervisors claim, she was insubordinate and her work performance was unsatisfactory. Wade then filed this action, claiming that Adams and Defendant Timothy Chambers violated the Missouri Human Rights Act ("MHRA"), Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 213.010-213.137, by firing her in retaliation for reporting the sexual harassment claim against Chambers. Defendants now move for summary judgment on Wade's retaliation claim. The Motion is fully briefed and ready for adjudication. For the reasons that follow, the Court will deny Defendants' Motion.
Job Corps Centers provide educational and career-oriented services for young individuals. On October 10, 2016, Adams hired Wade to the position of admissions supervisor at the Center. Wade's tasks in that position included improving enrollment, meeting arrival goals, recruiting the Center's students, and supervising admissions counselors. Docs. [73-3], [78] ¶¶ 7, 9. In this position, Wade reported to both the admissions director and the Center director. Dwayne Barefield served as the admissions director from the date Wade was hired until he left the Center in July 2017, after which Crystal Frizzell Heimback assumed the same role for the remainder of Wade's employment at Adams. Timothy Chambers was hired as the Center director in January 2017 and remained in that role through the time of Wade's firing.
Around early June 2017, an admissions counselor supervised by Wade made a complaint to Wade and Barefield that Chambers had inappropriately harassed her. Doc. [78] ¶ 35. Barefield reported the employee's complaint to Rodney Butler, a corporate executive director at Adams, around June 1, 2017. Id. ¶ 36. Shortly thereafter, Butler came to the Center and asked Barefield and Wade to prepare a jointly written statement about the employee's complaint, which they did. Id. ¶ 37. Butler additionally spoke with the employee and Chambers about the complaint. After Butler collected this information, Adams apparently conducted an investigation of the employee's claims against Chambers but could not "substantiate the complaint." Doc. [67-6]. Chambers was unaware of Wade's involvement in the complaint against him at this time. Docs. [81-4] at 107:11-108:21, [91] ¶¶ 180-81.
In July 2017, Adams looked to hire a replacement for Barefield, who had been planning to leave the Center since early 2017. Doc. [78] ¶ 40. Barefield agreed to work at Adams until his replacement was found. Wade interviewed to replace Barefield as admissions director, but Chambers instead selected Heimback, an outside hire, for the position. Id. ¶¶ 44-45. Heimback started in mid-July 2017. Barefield stayed at the Center for at least two weeks after Heimback's hiring to help transition Heimback into her new role. Id. ¶ 47. Afterward, though Barefield left the Center, he remained an Adams employee and currently works at a different Job Corps Center run by Adams. Id. ¶ 48.
After starting at Adams, Heimback felt that Wade and the admissions counselors Wade supervised were unprofessional, apparently leading Heimback to believe Wade was not setting a good example. Docs. [67-4] at 33-36, [78-2] at 5-6. Specifically, Heimback testified that (1) one employee slammed an office door in her face; (2) another refused to shake Heimback's hand and suggested he or she would not report to her; (3) she led a meeting where admissions team members were disrespectful to her in a variety of ways; and (4) one counselor mocked Heimback for being a vegetarian. Doc. [73] ¶¶ 50-55. According to Heimback, Wade did not reprimand her counselors for any of these actions. Id. ¶¶ 52-53, 55-56. Wade, meanwhile, contends that none of this occurred, or in any case, she did not observe any such behavior. See Docs. [78-7] ¶¶ 7-9, 14-15, 17-19, [78] ¶¶ 50-51. In her deposition, she further claimed that "[w]hen Ms. Heimback asked for my help, I provided it," and she never refused to do anything Heimback asked her to do. Id. ¶¶ 5, 12; see also Doc. [78-2] at 43:12-44:2.
Shortly after assuming her new position, Heimback provided Wade with a letter detailing her expectations. Doc. [80] ¶ 338. Wade wrote "unrealistic" next to one of the listed expectations, id., which Heimback claims she found "very unprofessional." Doc. [67-4] at 27-28. Heimback also testified that Wade "refused to sign or acknowledge" the letter of expectations. Doc. [73] ¶ 67. But Wade disputes this, saying that she never refused to sign the letter and in fact discussed it with Heimback. Doc. [78] ¶ 67, [79-2] at 133:10-25. Then, around August 2, 2017, Chambers gave Wade a written warning because of a "continued failure to achieve assigned file submittal quotas," which was, according to the letter, adversely affecting the Center. Doc. [73-9]. The warning made no mention of any of the claimed insubordination issues. See id. A week later, on August 9, Wade responded to the written warning, sending a copy of her response to Chambers and Kim LaGrand-Moorehead, an Adams HR manager who started working at Adams in July 2017. Docs. [73-10], [91] ¶ 23. In the response, Wade suggested that understaffing played a role in the file deficit cited in the warning. In doing so, she noted that one of her employees "abruptly resigned on June 5th" due to sexual harassment in the workplace, disclosing that she and Barefield had reported the complaint to Butler, though not mentioning who the employee had accused or any other details. Id.
There was an incident on August 10, 2017 where Wade left the Center for four hours. Heimback testified that Wade did not answer her cell phone and that when she returned she could not provide a reason explaining her absence. Wade disputes this, asserting that she was at a required outreach event with another employee, which she told Heimback when she arrived back at the Center. Compare Doc. [67-4] at 57:23-58:6 with Doc. [79-2] at 177:14-178:16. Wade further testified that her shared calendar reflected the outreach event, which would have provided Heimback with advance notice that she would be at the event. Doc. [79-2] at 177:14-178:16.
Another disputed incident occurred on August 15, 2017, when numerous former Job Corps students who were reapplying to the program did not show up for required meetings with Chambers. Doc. [78] ¶ 80. There is a disagreement as to how Wade explained these absences. Heimback testified that Wade simply told her that the counselors "didn't know about the meetings" and thus did not schedule them; however, Heimback claimed that the admissions counselors told her the students were just no shows. Doc. [67-4] at 58:7-2, 130:6-15. Heimback apparently viewed Wade's explanations for the absences as Wade "lying" and "being deceitful," as it was her responsibility to ensure the students showed up for these meetings. Id. at 128:11, 130:19-131:17. But Wade testified that her explanation for the absences was consistent with what the admissions counselors told Heimback. Doc. [79-2] at 179:19-180:19.
In a memorandum dated August 15, 2017 and sent to LaGrand-Moorehead, Heimback requested to fire Wade. Doc. [73-11]. In support of the request, Heimback stated Wade was "insubordinat[e]" in front of other staff and specifically noted the following disputed events: (1) her claim that Wade "refused to sign the letter of expectation;" (2) Wade's August 10 absence, for which Heimback claimed Wade "was unable to provide substantive accountability as to her whereabouts and activities;" and (3) Wade's explanations for the August 15 incident, which Heimback called "intentionally deceitful." Id. Around the same time, Heimback, Chambers, and LaGrand-Moorehead jointly submitted a recommendation to the corporate office to fire Wade, grounding the recommendation in Wade's lack of improvement in performance and stating that Wade was "not a good fit" for the Center. Doc. [73-12]. It appears that the recommendation to fire Wade was a joint effort among Heimback, Chambers, and LaGrand-Moorehead, see Docs. [78] ¶ 91 and [80-2] at 65:4-7, though Heimback initiated the decision, Doc. [91] ¶ 354.
Elizabeth McSweyn, a corporate HR manager, received the recommendation to fire Wade. In an August 16 email, she asked LaGrand-Moorehead to amend the recommendation to clarify that Wade's firing was based on insubordination. Doc. [73-14] at 1-2. This was apparently because the recommendation originally summarized that Wade "ha[d] not improved her performance," which, according to McSweyn's email, may not alone have warranted firing Wade, while insubordination did. Id. In that email, McSweyn articulated that she did not "want to open the door for performance concerns and a second chance." Id. That same day, Chambers, Heimback, LaGrand-Moorehead, and McSweyn signed a revised recommendation providing insubordination as the basis for the decision. Corporate approved the request to fire Wade on August 17, 2017. Docs. [73-13], [78] ¶ 100. Wade subsequently brought this suit, arguing that Defendants violated the MHRA by firing her for reporting the employee's sexual harassment complaint.
"A court must grant a motion for summary judgment if the moving party shows that there are no genuine disputes of material fact and that it is entitled to judgment as...
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