Casey v. Riedel

• Decision Date: 29 March 2002
• Docket Number: No. CIV.4-00-CV-20334.,CIV.4-00-CV-20334.
• Citation: 195 F.Supp.2d 1122
• Parties: Jennifer CASEY, Plaintiff, v. Ken RIEDEL, and State of Iowa, Department of Human Services, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Iowa

195 F.Supp.2d 1122

Jennifer CASEY, Plaintiff, v. Ken RIEDEL, and State of Iowa, Department of Human Services, Defendants.

No. CIV.4-00-CV-20334.

United States District Court, S.D. Iowa, Central Division.

March 29, 2002.

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Jeffrey M. Lipman, Lipman Law Firm PC, Ted E. Marks, Marks Law Office, Des Moines, IA, for plaintiff.

Charles Lavorato, Attorney General of Iowa, Julie A. Burger, Attorney General, Special Litigation Division, Des Moines, IA, for defendants.

RULING ON DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

BREMER, United States Magistrate Judge.

The Court has before it Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (Clerk's No. 29). Plaintiff claims Defendants retaliated against her for asserting her civil rights, thus violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C.2000e— 2000e-17 (1994 & West Supp.1998), and the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA), Iowa Code chapter 216 (1998). Plaintiff further claims that Defendants violated state law when they wrongfully discharged her, through constructive discharge, in violation of public policy. Plaintiff seeks compensatory and punitive damages, and injunctive relief.¹

Defendants move for summary judgment on the following bases: The Eleventh Amendment bars the claims under the ICRA and for wrongful discharge; under Title VII and the ICRA, Plaintiff has not provided sufficient evidence to establish her prima facie case of retaliation; and summary judgment is appropriate on the wrongful-discharge claim because the ICRA preempts the cause of action, and Plaintiff has not generated sufficient evidence to support the claim.

Defendants filed a Supplement to their Motion on November 9, 2001. Plaintiff's Resistance to Motion for Summary Judgment was filed February 19, 2002. This matter is fully submitted.

I. STANDARD FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

A party is entitled to summary judgment if no genuine issue exists as to any material facts, and if the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). On a motion for summary judgment, a court must give the non-moving party the benefit of all reasonable inferences that can be drawn from the facts. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). Summary judgment is inappropriate, however, where the record permits reasonable minds to draw conflicting inferences about a material fact. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505.

II. MATERIAL FACTS NOT IN DISPUTE

Unless otherwise indicated, the following facts are either undisputed or viewed in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, Jennifer Casey, the non-moving party.

Casey began working for Defendant State of Iowa's Council on Vocational Education on March 19, 1991, as a clerk-typist. In the following year and a half, Casey's performance score improved from 2.92, "Needs Some Improvement," to 3.58, "Competent—meets standards." (Pl.'s Ex. 1 at 177.)

In February 1993, Casey switched jobs and started working as a secretary with the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women (ICIW) in Mitchellville. On January 5, 1995, ICIW's warden promoted Casey to Grievance Officer/Administrative Assistant 2. Her duties included recruiting, training, and overseeing volunteers. In both jobs, Casey earned performance-evaluation scores placing her between the categories, "Competent—meets standards and/or requirements," and, "Very Good—exceeds standards and/or requirements." Id. at 164-65, 167-68.

In January 1997, Casey received a lateral transfer to the job of Volunteer Family Coordinator. She alleges that in March 1997, a supervisor, Captain Richard Hutton, began sexually harassing Casey. Hutton allegedly made sexually explicit comments to her and left harassing telephone calls on her voice mail. Casey complained to other supervisors about Hutton's actions, and she filed a formal complaint. Casey alleges that as a result of her complaints, she was subjected to retaliatory harassment at ICIW. On approximately November 25, 1997, Casey filed a complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission (ICRC) alleging sexual harassment and retaliation. The retaliation and harassment allegedly continued and included heightened scrutiny of Casey's work and the issuance of reprimands to her.

Casey resigned from ICIW effective February 5, 1998, to accept a job in Polk County with Defendant Department of Human Services (DHS) as a Public Service Supervisor II. Casey supervised approximately 13 employees who typed social workers' Child Protective Investigation (CPI) reports from a transcriber, and photocopied, processed, and filed reports. State statutes impose deadlines for completing the reports. Casey testified in her deposition that after learning her department had a problem with losing files, a problem that existed before she became supervisor, she implemented a new report-tracking system.

On March 20, 1998, Defendant Ken Riedel, Casey's supervisor, expressed to her his concern about Carolyn Mathis, Casey's subordinate who operated the Central Registry System (CRS), a database system. Mathis was behind in her CRS work. Casey testified that Mathis had a backlog before Casey became her supervisor. To alleviate the problem, Casey arranged for training additional employees to operate the CRS.

Between March and May 1998, approximately five of Casey's employees were fired or resigned. Of those who resigned, some did so to accept promotions; some said they resigned because of Casey's management style.

Casey testified that by May 1998, the report-tracking system she had implemented had improved the problem of lost reports.

On May 27, 1998, Riedel met with Casey. Defendants contend, and Casey disputes, that Riedel discussed Casey's work deficiencies. Casey testified that the meeting was "a normal ... meeting with him to review processes and procedures and get his input and update him." (Casey Dep. at 99.)

Casey testified that historically support-staff supervisors in her office and other counties had shared with each other their employees' help when needed to catch up on processing CPI reports; the practice helped keep down overtime pay. Casey testified that her department had used help from other counties before she become supervisor, and the practice was not unusual. On July 20, 1998, Casey sought help from other support-staff supervisors in surrounding counties in catching up on her department's CPI reports.

On July 22, 1998, Casey filed a lawsuit in Iowa District Court against ICIW, the Iowa Department of Corrections (IDOC), and certain individuals, alleging sexual discrimination and retaliation. Believing her lawsuit might receive media attention, Casey met with Riedel on July 22 and told him about the case. Casey asserts that Riedel said her job was safe and would be unaffected by her lawsuit, and that any problems were minor and could be worked through. Riedel states that he discussed job-related issues with Casey, and he confirms he told her he was not going to "release her." (Pl.'s Ex. 4.) Casey alleges that before she told Riedel about her lawsuit, her employer had never told her she was doing her job poorly, and never mentioned that her job was in jeopardy.

Casey asserts that after she told Riedel about her lawsuit, she suffered various adverse employment actions, some of which are listed below:

• On July 23, 1998, Riedel asked Casey to meet with him again. At this meeting, Riedel told Casey she had performance problems and he wanted her to look for another job. Riedel contends his statements were not retaliatory and had no relation to her lawsuit. Casey alleges Riedel said, "I could just rate you substandard and that could be discipline and I could go from there," and implied that he would find false reasons for disciplining her. (Pl.'s Statement Facts at ¶ 32-34.)

• Her supervisors' attitude towards her changed, and they began to display a negative attitude towards her in the presence of her subordinates.

• Certain co-worker supervisors, Michelle Moore and Mary Ellison, accused Casey of acting with unprofessional misconduct at a meeting on August 5, 1998. Although Casey denied the allegations, her employer later suspended her as a result of the accusation.

• Connie MacLlelan, one of the social-worker supervisors, told Casey it was not in MacLlelan's best interests, due to feared retaliation, for her to talk with Casey at work, but that Casey could call her at home.

• Casey's ability to do her job was hampered because she no longer was included in supervisors' meetings or in making decisions regarding work changes, and because Riedel directed Casey's subordinate, Vicki Guse, to act as a quasi-supervisor and report directly to Riedel and Ellison on matters concerning staff members.

• Ellison, MacLlelan's supervisor and head of the Child and Adult Protective unit, and her staff members began by-passing Casey and seeking needed information from Casey's staff.

• Judy Holmes, the human resources director, would no longer communicate with Casey, and was unavailable when Casey had questions. Holmes degraded, criticized and screamed at Casey about her work in the presence of Casey's subordinates.

• Riedel degraded and yelled at Casey in the presence of Casey's subordinates and co-workers. Riedel told one of Casey's subordinates to document what Casey did for future use against her, which undermined Casey's ability to perform her job.

• After Casey filed her lawsuit, Riedel instructed Casey's subordinates to document everything that Casey did and said for the purpose of using it against her in the future.

• On August 18, 1998, Riedel gave Casey a performance evaluation for the six-month period of February 1 through July 31, 1998. In the evaluation, Riedel stated Casey did not meet expectations in any of the scored performance categories: problem solving, teamwork, customer...