Dewitt v. Mecklenburg County, No. Civ. 3:97CV579-H.
| Court | United States District Courts. 4th Circuit. Western District of North Carolina |
| Writing for the Court | Horn |
| Citation | 73 F.Supp.2d 589 |
| Docket Number | No. Civ. 3:97CV579-H. |
| Decision Date | 25 June 1999 |
| Parties | Donna DEWITT, Plaintiff, v. MECKLENBURG COUNTY, a corporate governmental unit organized pursuant to the laws of North Carolina, and R. Wayne Weston, individually and in his capacity as Director of the Parks and Recreation Department of defendant Mecklenburg County as well as an agent of defendant Mecklenburg County, Defendants. |
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v.
MECKLENBURG COUNTY, a corporate governmental unit organized pursuant to the laws of North Carolina, and R. Wayne Weston, individually and in his capacity as Director of the Parks and Recreation Department of defendant Mecklenburg County as well as an agent of defendant Mecklenburg County, Defendants.
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Michael A. Sheely, Sheely and Young, Charlotte, NC, for Plaintiff.
Richard L. Rainey, G. Michael Barnhill, W. Clark Goodman, Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice, Charlotte, NC, for Defendants.
HORN, Chief United States Magistrate Judge.
THIS MATTER is before the Court on "Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment" (document # 17) and "Memorandum in Support ..." (document # 18), both filed March 30, 1999. "Plaintiff's Brief in Opposition to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment [and] Request for Oral Argument" (document # 24) was filed on May 14, 1999, and "Defendants' Reply to Plaintiff's Brief in Opposition" (document # 26) was filed on May 25, 1999. Plaintiff also filed a "Response to Defendants' Reply ..." (document # 28) on May 28, 1999. The parties have consented to Magistrate Judge jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c), and this matter is now ripe for disposition.
Having fully considered the Defendants' motion, the parties' arguments, the record, and the applicable authorities, the Court will grant "Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment" in its entirety.
Plaintiff Donna DeWitt, a white female, was employed as an "Athletic Coordinator" with Defendant Mecklenburg County ("the County") in its Parks and Recreation Department ("the Department") from July 1992 through March 5, 1998.1 Plaintiff's chief responsibility was to plan and coordinate athletic events for the public, including, but not limited to, adult softball leagues. Plaintiff, the only female among seven athletic coordinators for much of her active tenure with the Department,2 essentially alleges that she was discriminated against on the basis of her gender and in retaliation for her complaints of unfair treatment, culminating in her termination on March 5, 1998.
The primary events giving rise to this litigation allegedly began in the Fall of 1995.3 In October, 1995, four of the Department's
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six male Athletic Coordinators attended an Athletic Director's workshop in Boone, North Carolina sponsored by the North Carolina Recreation Park Society ("NCRPS"). The record indicates that the four men who attended were all active members of the NCRPS, while Plaintiff was not a member and had never previously requested to attend nor attended this particular workshop. Defendant Wayne Weston, the Director of the County Parks and Recreation Department, testified that Plaintiff did not attend the Boone conference because she did not ask to go, and that Plaintiff was shortly thereafter sent to the NCRPS Annual Conference in November, 1995. Plaintiff contends that she had previously been sent to a number of other conferences without having requested to attend.
On November 16, 1995, Plaintiff misinformed a league softball team coach regarding the time at which her team was scheduled to play, and, as a result, the game had to be rescheduled. Plaintiff testified that the next morning, Weston yelled at her about this incident; suggested that to prevent such errors she should do her job "like the men in the Department" and post her softball game schedules; and said, "Look at your desk compared to the male coordinators' desks ... These desks look like athletic coordinators' desks."
The Department was subdivided into several geographic districts — one for each Athletic Coordinator — in December, 1995. Plaintiff was initially assigned to the East District under its supervisor, Lola Massad. Massad reported to Assistant Director James Foster, who in turn reported to Weston. In February 1996, Plaintiff requested, but was denied, a transfer from the East District to the South District.
On February 21, 1996, each of the Athletic Coordinators was directed by Weston to submit plans for two new road races in his or her respective district. As of March 8, 1996, the deadline for submission, Plaintiff and another Athletic Coordinator, Rick Barbrey, had not submitted their plans, despite having been reminded on March 6. At Weston's instruction, each was disciplined by being given one day of "Decision Making Leave," essentially a one-day paid suspension to be used to consider how to improve their job performance. Although Plaintiff was notified of this sanction by Lola Massad, her female supervisor, Plaintiff complained in a written memorandum that Massad 1) had told Plaintiff on February 29, 1996 "not to worry" about submitting the new road race plans; 2) on March 11 said she had not realized "how serious" Weston was about the March 8 deadline, but that she was not going to "write [Plaintiff] up" or "do the things that Mr. Weston wanted done to [her]"; and 3) had said that she "did not want to" suspend Plaintiff. Plaintiff concluded this memorandum by stating "I want to make it clear that I have been treated in a degrading manner because of my sex during the past three years. There is no excuse for this treatment."
Upon consultation with a Compliance Officer in Defendant's Human Relations office, Weston determined that his initial recommendation of paid suspension for both Barbrey and Plaintiff had been too harsh (largely because he interpreted their failure as one of insubordination, not merely poor performance). Thus, he instructed Plaintiff's and Barbrey's supervisors to rescind the suspensions and to give each of them a written reminder and a "coaching session" regarding job performance, in accordance with the County's progressive discipline policy.
Beginning on March 14, 1996, Plaintiff took a paid medical leave of absence, allegedly due to stress and anxiety allegedly caused by her work environment. On April 4, 1996, while on leave, Plaintiff requested
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a transfer from the East district to the Southwest District. The record is unclear as to how this request was specifically handled, but it is undisputed that when Plaintiff returned to work on November 8, 1996, she was assigned to the Central District.
On April 25, 1996, Plaintiff filed her first Charge of Discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"),4 alleging that she had been "harassed because of [her] sex (female), subjected to different terms and conditions of employment than the male Athletic Coordinators ... and on March 12, 1996 ... suspended without prior disciplinary actions." She also made reference to not being informed of or authorized to attend the Boone NCRPS conference in October, 1995 and to Weston's having yelled at her and instructed her to "be like the men athletic coordinators" on November 17, 1995.
On July 1, 1996, Plaintiff filed an amended EEOC charge, alleging that although she was then on a medical leave of absence, she "continue[d] to be harassed and intimidated"; that she believed her she would be "written up" upon returning to work either for her activities while on medical leave or for allegedly writing an anonymous letter "reporting violations in the [D]epartment"; that she did not believe her job was being held for her because the Department had hired three permanent Athletic Coordinators although it had only two permanent vacancies; that one of the new hires had been assigned to her district; and that she believed these actions were based on her gender or in retaliation for her previous charge of discrimination.
On September 9, 1996, Plaintiff amended her EEOC charge again, this time adding allegations that while she was still working "race files" had been "purposefully withheld" from her; that records which she turned in upon beginning her leave of absence were not distributed for handling by other Athletic Coordinators and she was being blamed publicly for certain mishaps which resulted; and that she believed these actions were likewise based on her gender or in retaliation for her previous charge of discrimination. Exhibits to Plaintiff's amended charge indicate that Plaintiff had turned in her files to Lola Massad as instructed, and that Plaintiff believed that Massad and/or Weston had deliberately failed to distribute her files in order to make her look less competent.
During her leave of absence, Plaintiff was evaluated and treated by Dr. Wanda Spolnicki, her primary care physician, for "stress and depressive symptoms related to her job." Dr. Spolnicki informed the County, in a letter dated June 17, 1996, that she recommended that "Plaintiff take a leave of absence from work in order to maintain her health" and that Plaintiff find another position with the County "unless the situation changes, i.e., she is not under the same pressures she was prior to her leave of absence." The record indicates that Plaintiff was prescribed Xanax and other antidepressant medications; received counseling through the Employee Assistance Program; and was also evaluated and treated by Dr. Angela Wheeler, Ph.D., a psychologist, for her symptoms.
On October 30, 1996, Dr. Spolnciki released Plaintiff to return to work effective November 8, 1996, provided that she "have no contact with Mr. Wayne Weston." In a letter to Plaintiff's counsel dated September 11, 1996, Dr. Wheeler concurred that Plaintiff should not return to her former job "while Mr. Weston and his administration are in positions of authority over her."
Upon Plaintiff's return to the Department on November 8, 1996, she was assigned to the Central District II under the Supervision of Park District Supervisor Melinda Frazier (who reported to Assistant Director Isaac Applewhite). The record
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