Brown v. Ill. Dep't of Corr.
| Decision Date | 30 November 2022 |
| Docket Number | 22-cv-00475-SPM |
| Parties | LEROICA BROWN, Plaintiff, v. ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, WARDEN RON VITALE, Individually, and in his Official Capacity, WARDEN SHARLETTE RODGERS, Individually, and in his Official Capacity, and SERGEANT DWAYNE ELLIOTT, Individually, and in his Official Capacity, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Illinois |
Pending before the Court is a Motion to Dismiss First Amended Complaint filed by defendants Illinois Department of Corrections, Warden Ron Vitale (“Vitale”), Warden Sharlette Rodgers (“Rodgers”), and Sergeant Dwayne Elliott (“Elliott”) (collectively “defendants”). A supporting memorandum was filed contemporaneously with the motion (Doc. 21). For the reasons set forth below, the motion is granted in part and denied in part.
The facts alleged by Brown are accepted as true for purposes of defendants' motion[1]. FED. R. CIV. P. 10(c); Arnett v Webster, 658 F.3d 742, 751-52 (7th Cir. 2011). This Court will summarize what it deems necessary to address this motion.
Leroica Brown is a female who was hired by defendant Illinois Department of Corrections (“IDOC”), the department of the Illinois state government that operates the prison system, as a correctional officer in March 2018 (Doc 18, ¶¶ 10, 25). Following training, Brown began working at Southwestern Illinois Correctional Center (“SWICC”), one of the IDOC facilities, in August 2018 as a probational correctional officer (Id., ¶¶ 29, 35).
Brown attended Southwestern Illinois College in 2017 with defendant, Sergeant Jeffrey Elliott (“Elliott”) who was employed by IDOC as a correctional officer at SWICC until his promotion to Sergeant in late 2019 (Id., ¶¶ 20, 99). Defendant Ron Vitale (“Vitale”), was employed by IDOC and served as the warden at SWICC until December 31, 2019 (Id., ¶ 13). Defendant Sharlette Rodgers (“Rodgers”) was employed by IDOC and became warden at SWICC on January 1, 2020 (Id., ¶ 14). Vitale, Elliott, and Rodgers all had supervisory authority over Brown at SWICC.
Elliott contacted plaintiff prior to her employment at SWICC and offered his assistance in her obtaining a job (¶¶ 20-23). Throughout her training, Elliott sent vulgar emails to Brown and left notes of her car (¶¶ 28-34). Once she began employment at SWICC, Brown stopped responding and tried to avoid Elliott (¶ 36). In September 2018, Brown first reported Elliott to a supervisor[2]at SWICC and believes Vitale was made aware of her complaints (Id., ¶¶ 46-58). Following her complaint, Brown remained scheduled on the same shifts and in the same area as Elliott (Id., ¶ 54).
Brown filed an incident report in October 2018 against a superior, Sergeant Nicholas Sroka (Id., ¶ 54). Brown referenced numerous incidents that occurred in October 2018, including keys being thrown at her, an obscene hand gesture, phone disconnections, as well as accusations that she was lying and bypassing the chain of command (Id., ¶¶ 60-65).
In November 2018, Brown was transferred to the 3:00 - 11:00 p.m. shift (Id., ¶ 66). On November 21, 2018, Brown injured her back and later submitted the workman's compensation paperwork to Major Ronald McDonald (Id., ¶¶ 67-73). Later that month, Brown was disciplined for not providing a workman's compensation report for her injury (Id., ¶¶ 67-73).
On January 29, 2019, McDonald gave Brown a poor performance review and requested to extend her probationary period (Id., ¶ 76). Brown filed a grievance disputing the poor performance review and her probationary period was not extended (Id., ¶ 77).
In March 2019, Brown learned she was pregnant and planned to begin her maternity leave on October 23, 2019 (Id., ¶ 78). In April 2019, Brown advised Vitale and her supervisors of her pregnancy, and requested to move to light duty in accordance with an IDOC practice of reassigning pregnant officers to less dangerous and physically demanding positions (Id., ¶¶ 80-82). In May 2019, Brown provided proof of pregnancy, along with list of recommended restrictions to Vitale, Marshall, and the Union President Shifferdecker (Id., ¶¶ 84, 85). Later in May 2019, Brown provided additional documentation to support her request for a reasonable accommodation of a light duty position (Id., ¶¶ 86, 87). Although Vitale approved Brown's request for reasonable accommodation, she was not notified until she followed up with him (Id., ¶ 88).
Notwithstanding the foregoing, IDOC did not provide her with the approved accommodations (Id., ¶ 89).
In the summer of 2019, Brown began wearing scrub pants because she could no longer fit into her uniform pants and the uniform department did not have pants that could accommodate her pregnancy, but she was reprimanded for being out of uniform (Id., ¶¶ 90, 91).
In October 2019, Brown received a phone call from Elliott that she reported to her shift commander, Major Kevin McQuarrie (Id., ¶¶ 92, 93). Two days later, Brown began her maternity leave early (Id., ¶ 94). After delivery but while still in the hospital, Brown was notified by SWICC's HR that she could not start her maternity leave early without additional documentation (Id., ¶ 95). Brown's mother left the paperwork at the guardhouse at SWICC (Id.).
Brown complained to her union representative, the union vice president, and Harlan about IDOC's failure to accommodate her pregnancy, along with the abuse and retaliation directed against her (Id., ¶ 96). While on maternity leave, Elliott was promoted to Sergeant, making him a higher-ranking officer (Id., ¶ 99).
In January 2020, Brown returned to SWICC and was questioned by HR about not providing paperwork for the first two days of her medical leave and threatened with discipline (Id., ¶ 98). When she returned from maternity leave, her supervisor was Major Cassandra Davis (Id., ¶ 103). Davis assigned Brown to work with Elliott (Id., ¶ 104).
On January 5, 2020, Brown advised Warden Rodgers of her prior complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation (Id., ¶ 100). Brown was advised that the complaints had been investigated and were unfounded (Id., ¶ 102). Brown also filed a complaint that Davis continued to schedule her to work with Elliott (Id., ¶ 105).
On January 11, 2020, Brown was verbally counselled for being approximately seven (7) minutes later to work (Id., ¶ 107). That same month Brown reported to Tamara Brown with Affirmative Action that Davis continued to schedule her to work the same shifts and areas as Elliott (Id., ¶ 115).
On February 8, 2020, Brown was notified that her shift was changing and that she would not be getting her requested days off because someone with higher seniority had requested them (Id., ¶ 116). However, someone on her shift had lower seniority and protocol required that shift changes and days off affect employees with lower seniority (Id., ¶ 117). Brown advised she needed the requested days to complete training and filed a grievance (Id., ¶ 118, 119).
On February 9, 2020, Brown's daughter was admonished when she called her mother at work (Id., ¶ 124). On February 12, 2020, Brown had a family emergency, and although she followed proper policies and protocol, she was disciplined (Id., ¶¶ 125, 126). On February 17, 2020, Union President Sergeant Cynthia Fields asked plaintiff about withdrawing her complaints (Id., ¶ 129). On February 23, 2020, Brown reported an incident when a male co-worker exposed himself (Id., ¶ 130). That same month, Brown provided Major McQuarrie with copies of her prior complaints and requested they be given to Warden Rodgers (Id., ¶¶ 131, 132).
In March 2020, Brown began suffering panic attacks, which she attributes to the ongoing issues at work (Id., ¶ 127). On March 2, 2020. Brown advised Union President Sergeant Fields of her complaints (Id., ¶ 134). On March 13, 2020, Brown was diagnosed with anxiety due to stress (Id., ¶ 128). Later that month, Brown notified IDOC that she lost her childcare due to Covid-19 and requested time off (Id., ¶ 138).
In May 2020, Brown was advised that if she did not return to work, she would be terminated by IDOC (Id., ¶ 139). On May 7, 2020, Brown resigned her employment, effective June 1, 2020 (Id., ¶ 140).
On March 8, 2022, Brown filed this action (Doc. 1). On June 13 2022, defendants filed a motion to dismiss along with supporting memorandum of law (Docs. 15, 16). On June 14, 2022, Brown was granted leave to amend her complaint (Doc. 17), and on June 27, 2022, the first amended complaint was filed (Doc. 18).
In the amended complaint, Brown generally alleged sexual harassment so pervasive as to create a hostile work environment retaliation in response to various complaints of discrimination, and pregnancy discrimination, all of which ultimately resulted in constructive discharge (Id.). Specifically, Brown asserted claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et. seq., the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, 42 U.S.C. §2000e(k), et. seq., the Illinois Human Rights Act, 775 Ill. Comp. Stat. Ann. 5/1-101, et. seq., and the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. Brown. The amended complaint was brought in the following nine counts: (1) Equal protection against all defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1983; (2) Sex discrimination against all defendants in violation of Title VII; (3) Pregnancy discrimination against IDOC in violation of Title VII and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act; (4) Retaliation against IDOC in violation of Title VII; (5) Sex discrimination against all defendants in violation of the IHRA; (6) Pregnancy discrimination against defendants Vitale, Rogers, and Elliott in violation of IHRA; (7) Retaliation against all defendants in violation...
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