Corso v. N.Y. Dep't of Corr. & Cmty. Supervision

• Decision Date: 03 July 2019
• Docket Number: 1:16-cv-01488 (BKS/ML)
• Parties: JOANN CORSO, Plaintiff, v. NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS & COMMUNITY SUPERVISION, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York

JOANN CORSO, Plaintiff, v. NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OFCORRECTIONS & COMMUNITY SUPERVISION, Defendant.

1:16-cv-01488 (BKS/ML)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

July 3, 2019

Appearances:

For Plaintiff:

Michael H. Sussman

Jonathan R. Goldman

Sussman & Associates

1 Railroad Avenue, Suite 3

P.O. Box 1005

Goshen, NY 10924

For Defendant:

Letitia A. James

Attorney General of the State of New York

Aimee Cowan

Assistant Attorney General

615 Erie Boulevard West, Suite 102

Syracuse, NY 13204

Hon. Brenda K. Sannes, United States District Judge:

MEMORANDUM-DECISION AND ORDER

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Joann Corso, a correction officer at the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision ("DOCCS"), brings this action alleging that DOCCS discriminated and retaliated against her on the basis of her gender in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e to 2000e-17 ("Title VII"). (Dkt. No. 18). The parties understand the Amended Complaint to assert three claims under Title VII: (1) hostile work environment; (2) employment discrimination; and (3) retaliation. (Dkt. Nos. 33-29, 40). Defendant moves for summary judgment under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. (Dkt. No. 33). For the reasons stated below, the motion is granted.

II. FACTS¹

A. Plaintiff's Employment at Ulster

Plaintiff, who has served as a DOCCS correction officer since 1998, started working at Ulster in November 2015. (Dkt. No. 33-28, ¶¶ 1-2). Ulster is a reception center that processes inmates from local jails and state facilities before their transfer to other state facilities for longer-term placement. (Id. ¶¶ 3-4). At Ulster, Plaintiff worked as a resource officer—an employee who fills in for an officer that is out sick, on vacation, or absent for another reason—until July 2017. (Id. ¶¶ 6-8).

B. Assignment to the Draft Unit

In February 2016, Plaintiff asked to fill a two-week-long absence in the draft unit ("draft" for short) beginning on Monday, February 29, 2016, (Dkt. No. 33-28, ¶ 10; see Dkt. No. 33-2), because the officer holding the permanent position was out on leave, (Dkt. No. 33-9, at 53). Plaintiff requested a draft position because it meant that she could have weekends off and visit her ill father three hours away. (Dkt. No. 33-9, at 43-44). If not for the benefit of having weekends off, she would have ranked an assignment in draft in "last position" because, based on conversations with other female officers, she understood the draft unit to be a hostileenvironment for women, as male officers in the draft unit did not want female officers working there. (Dkt. No. 33-9, at 44-47).

At that time, the draft unit comprised six bid posts for the day shift: an officer in the bag room, who also assists with strip frisks of inmates; a desk officer; and four general-purpose officers responsible for, among other duties, escorting inmates from the housing unit to the buses or the mess hall, monitoring inmates at the mess hall, strip-frisking inmates arriving or leaving the unit, and running the medication table. (Id. ¶¶ 15-17, 19). On the morning of February 29, 2016, the most senior officer in the draft unit was Paul Steers, who served as desk officer. (Id. ¶ 18). Alex Melnick was working the bag room. (Dkt. No. 33-12, at 14). The other draft officers were Barry Belfance, James Jamrozy, and Chan Edwards. (See Dkt. No. 34-8, at 15). The same individuals worked in draft on March 2, 2016, except for Melnick. (Id.).

Lieutenant Jason Callender, who was in charge of staffing, granted Plaintiff's request to be placed in draft, partly based on her seniority. (Dkt. No. 33-28, ¶ 14; Dkt. No. 33-10, at 20, 23, 29). But Plaintiff asserts that Callender never contacted her. (Dkt. No. 33-9, at 52). Instead, she learned of her assignment on Thursday, February 25, 2016, from Belfance, who was working in the bag room. (Dkt. No. 33-9, at 52, 55, 60; Dkt. No. 33-20, at 42; Dkt. No. 34-5, at 1). According to Plaintiff's testimony, Belfance warned that maybe she should "not do it" because, as a woman, she could not strip-frisk inmates and she might be assigned to the draft desk; since Steers usually picked that position, as he was entitled to do based on his seniority, it "would get Steers very mad" if Plaintiff were assigned to the draft desk. (Dkt. No. 33-9, at 56-58, 66-67). Belfance told her that "it might be better if [she] didn't take a bid down" in the draft unit and that, given her inability to perform strip frisks, she "might push somebody off of a job by theirseniority and by their bid" and "they'd have to work through a . . . lower position." (Dkt. No. 33-20, at 41-42).

Asked at his deposition whether he had heard that male officers did not want female officers in draft, Sergeant Michael Lee—an assistant watch commander at Ulster responsible for overseeing the daily charts and job assignment of resource officers at the facility²—stated:

Well, they would prefer not to have females down there because of the stripping and stuff involved. The problem they have in their job description, it doesn't state whether they do strip frisking or not. So, essentially, you can have five women and one guy down there, and that wouldn't work because one person stripping 180 inmates would take all day.

(Dkt. No. 33-11, at 8-13, 58-61). Because of the strip-frisking problem, Lee explained that management was in the process of making draft bids male only. (Id. at 58-59). As a draft sergeant, he also preferred having male officers working in draft because "[i]t makes more sense to have male officers doing male jobs that need to be completed." (Id. at 60-61). He clarified, however, that no one in draft had specifically expressed that sentiment to him. (Id. at 69-70).

After her conversation with Belfance, Plaintiff spoke to Steers. (Dkt. No. 33-9, at 59, 67). She told him, "I'm not trying to take your job or anything. I'll do whatever you guys don't want to do . . . . Whatever jobs that yous [sic] don't want to do, I will do because I know I cannot strip frisk." (Id. at 67). He told her to "just come in five [a.m.] to one [p.m.]" on Monday. (Id. at 59).

On Friday, February 26, 2016, Plaintiff wrote a memo to Callender, stating:

I was informed that I was penciled into the draft post and that being a female it would cause a problem for male seniority officers. Female officers have had draft bids in the past. I am devasted [sic] but I know it would be in my best interest to be taken out of the draft post rather than face a hostile work environment.

(Dkt. No. 34-5, at 1). She placed the memo into Callender's mailbox the following Monday morning, February 29, 2016, before her draft unit shift started at 5:00 a.m. (Dkt. No. 33-9, at 55-56, 63). Given the timing, Plaintiff "knew that it was probably going to be too late" and that she "was going to have to spend a day there" in the draft unit. (Id. at 57, 60).

Plaintiff did not receive any training before starting in the draft unit. (Dkt. No. 33-9, at 52). As soon as she reported to the draft unit, Plaintiff felt hostility "right away." (Id. at 63). According to her testimony, "nobody was saying a word to me what I was going to do. . . . I asked what am I supposed to do and they just didn't even answer me." (Id.). She asked Steers if she would be working the desk, and he said no. (Id. at 64). Plaintiff and other draft officers went to the mess hall to supervise the inmates, and one of the officers asked her to "stay outside" and direct outgoing inmates to the laundry area. (Id. at 69-70). As Plaintiff further testified, after the inmates "were done with laundry, we all walked to the back and went to draft because these inmates have to now get ready to be strip frisked." (Id. at 70-71). Only male officers, however, may strip-frisk inmates. (Dkt. No. 33-28, ¶ 20). Plaintiff volunteered to "do the medicine table." (Dkt. No. 33-9, at 71). When she grabbed a big wooden table to set up, the officers told her "that's not the table you use, really nasty," so she "took another table up." (Id.).

As she was working the medication table, two inmates came up to her and said, referring to the draft officers, "[Y]ou got to hear what these guys are saying about you. . . . [W]e don't even want to say it, it's so nasty." (Id. at 72-73, 81). She responded that she could imagine, but they said, "[N]o, you can't." (Id. at 81). They added, "[T]hey really hate females, don't they?" (Id. at 82). Plaintiff "was getting very upset," and she handed the medicine bags to one of the inmates. (Id. at 73). "[A]fter that," she recounted, "I was lost the rest of the day. . . . [W]hateverthey told me to do I did, but they didn't tell me much." (Id.). At one point, the sergeant told her she was "supposed to be out in the hall," and she went. (Id.).

Plaintiff mentioned two specific confrontations that happened in draft during her assignment there. Because of her experience as an I.D. officer, Plaintiff offered to "do I.D." (Id. at 85). Edwards rebuffed her: "You're not getting my code . . . . I ain't showing her nothing." (Id. at 85-86). According to Plaintiff, Edwards "gives you nasty looks when you're in draft, especially if you're passing." (Id.). Later, when inmates had to be escorted, one of the draft officers—she believed it was Edwards—yelled out, "[L]et her escort, she got two fucking legs. Let her go fucking escort. Why are you going to go out and do it?" (Id. at 86-87). Plaintiff complied and escorted the inmates in the rain. (Id. at 74). According to Plaintiff, no one other than Steers or Edwards engaged in discriminatory conduct toward her that day. (Dkt. No. 33-28, ¶ 41). At the end of her shift, she went home, "[v]ery upset." (Id.). Plaintiff did not make a complaint about how she was treated on her first day in draft, and she did not raise any issues with Sergeant Charles Madison, the day-shift draft sergeant. (Id. at 82; Dkt. No. 33-14, at 11-13).

On March 1, 2016, during her second day in...