Dunbar v. Omnicom Grp.

• Decision Date: 18 February 2021
• Docket Number: No. 3:19-cv-00956 (KAD),3:19-cv-00956 (KAD)
• Citation: Dunbar v. Omnicom Grp., No. 3:19-cv-00956 (KAD) (D. Conn. Feb 18, 2021)
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
• Parties: KAREN DUNBAR, Plaintiff, v. OMNICOM GROUP, INC., OMNICOM MANAGEMENT SERVICES, DDB WORLDWIDE COMMUNICATIONS, TLP, INC. d/b/a TRACYLOCKE, TERESA BRAMMER, Defendants.

KAREN DUNBAR, Plaintiff, v. OMNICOM GROUP, INC., OMNICOM MANAGEMENT SERVICES,DDB WORLDWIDE COMMUNICATIONS, TLP, INC. d/b/a TRACYLOCKE,TERESA BRAMMER, Defendants.

No. 3:19-cv-00956 (KAD)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT

February 18, 2021

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION RE: DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS(ECF NO. 86) AND MOTION FOR ENTRY OF JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS(ECF NO. 89)

Kari A. Dooley, United States District Judge:

This action arises out of the termination of PlaintiffKaren Dunbar's ("Dunbar" or the "Plaintiff") employment on March 27, 2018.Pending before the Court is Defendants' motion to dismiss all claims against Defendants DDB Worldwide Communications ("DDB"), Omnicom Management Services ("OMS"), and Teresa Brammer("Brammer"), as well as Plaintiff's libel claim against all Defendants—DDB, OMS, TLP, Inc. d/b/a TracyLocke ("TracyLocke"), Omnicom Group, Inc.("Omnicom") and Brammer.(ECF No. 86.)Also pending is Defendants' motion for judgment on the pleadings with respect to Plaintiff's claims against Omnicom brought pursuant to the Equal Pay Act.(ECF No. 89.)Dunbar has filed oppositions to both motions and the Defendants have filed reply briefs in support of their requested relief.For the reasons that follow Defendants' motion to dismiss is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.The motion for judgment on the pleadings is GRANTED without prejudice to the filing of an amended complaint.

Allegations

The following allegations are taken from the Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint (the "FAC,"ECF No. 64) and are accepted as true for purposes of the instant motions.See, e.g., Hogan v. Fischer, 738 F.3d 509, 515(2d Cir.2013).

Dunbar is an accomplished advertising writer and creative director whose nearly 30-year career has included working in the industry's most prestigious advertising agencies and advising many high-profile clients.(FAC ¶¶ 1, 30.)From May 2015 through March 27, 2018, Dunbar served as an employee of Omnicom, DDB, and TracyLocke (which, together with OMS, she refers to as the "Agency") at TracyLocke's Wilton, Connecticut office.(Id.¶ 15.)Omnicom is a global marketing and corporate communications company with approximately 78,000 employees worldwide; it exercises extensive control over the operations and personnel decisions of OMS, DDB, and TracyLocke, each of which is an Omnicom wholly-owned subsidiary.(Id.¶¶ 16-19.)OMS is located in Dallas, Texas and at all relevant times performed human resources ("HR") and information technology ("IT) functions for agencies that operate under the Omnicom umbrella.(Id.¶ 17.)DDB is headquartered and incorporated in New York and at all relevant times exercised extensive control over TracyLocke's personnel decisions and operations.(Id.¶ 18.)TracyLocke employs more than 650 professionals in thirteen offices, including its Connecticut office where Dunbar worked.(Id.¶ 19.)Brammer resides in Texas and at all relevant times served as Omnicom's Chief Human Resources Director.(Id.¶ 20.)

Dunbar began her career with the Agency in May 2015 as a freelance copywriter and creative director, which meant that she was not entitled to important benefits, including health and retirement benefits, that accrued to male employees performing comparable work.(Id.¶ 31.)Despite working long hours and producing exemplary work, Dunbar's requests for full-timeemployment and attendant benefits were denied until April 2016, when she was offered a position as Associate Creative Director for TracyLocke's Hewlett Packard ("HP") client account.(Id.¶¶ 31-33.)Though overqualified for the position, Dunbar was encouraged to accept in order to achieve employee status and a few months later was promoted to Creative Director of the HP team.(Id.¶ 33.)

Although it is TracyLocke's second largest office in the United States, the Agency's Connecticut office lacks a Human Resources department or even a single HR representative.(Id.¶ 43.)This absence has contributed to a "Mad Men" culture in which male supervisors and employees perpetuate unchecked sexual harassment, discrimination, and abusive behavior toward female subordinates.(Id.¶ 44.)The Agency's reputation for gender inequity in an industry already afflicted by gender discrimination is well-known and is reflected in, inter alia, comments from TracyLocke CEO Hugh Boyle("Boyle") describing his creative team as "a Band of Brothers," a significant gender pay gap, disproportionate numbers of men in high-level positions, public employee reviews recounting sexual harassment and discrimination, and the Agency's disregard for serious complaints of harassment and abuse.(Id.¶¶ 46-50.)

Throughout her tenure with the Agency, Dunbar herself "was subjected to a severe and pervasive hostile workplace in which she and other women were routinely demeaned, diminished and subjected to degrading sexual harassment."(Id.¶ 53.)For example, when Dunbar joined the HP team in April 2016, the Agency placed her in charge of a male employee who had been the subject of prior complaints that the Agency had ignored, and whose intimidating and explosive behavior led Dunbar to fear for her physical safety.(Id.¶¶ 54-57.)The Agency required Dunbar to monitor the male employee's compliance with a "special 'behavior contract'" created for him despite Dunbar's repeated complaints of the employee's threats and abuse, and though he waseventually terminated, Dunbar continued to fear reprisal after his departure.(Id.¶¶ 58-59.)In August 2016, Global Managing Director Jim Sexton("Sexton") deliberately placed Dunbar next to a powerful senior male client during a meeting in which the client openly flirted with Dunbar, sat uncomfortably close to her, and passed her inappropriate notes.(Id.¶ 61.)When confronted by Dunbar, Sexton "admitted that he directed Dunbar to sit close to his important client 'so he would have someone pretty, young, and sexy beside him.'"(Id.)Dunbar reported this incident as sexual harassment but her complaint was ignored, prompting Brian Hutter("Hutter"), Dunbar's direct supervisor on the HP team (seeid.¶ 34) to blame Dunbar "for being a 'difficult' woman."(Id.¶ 62.)In the fall of 2017 Sexton berated Dunbar and screamed at her over the phone following a difficult HP client meeting (id.¶ 63), and "Sexton twice touched Dunbar in an unwanted and offensive sexual manner."(Id.¶ 64.)During a fall 2017 business trip to San Francisco, CEO Boyle loudly and repeatedly used the word "cunt" during a meeting at which Dunbar was the only female present, lamenting its underuse in the "PC culture."(Id.¶ 66.)Dunbar felt degraded by the incident but feared termination if she were to report it.(Id.¶¶ 66-67.)And although Hutter privately applauded Dunbar's work, he belittled and humiliated her in front of the HP team, complaining of her "strong opinions," characterizing her as a "nagging wife," and in one incident suggesting that she tape her mouth shut.(Id.¶¶ 68-73.)Hutter and other supervisors also excluded Dunbar from opportunities afforded to less experienced male employees, including by requiring that Dunbar alone obtain special permission from Hutter and Sexton to travel to client meetings.(Id.¶ 74.)

For years the Agency's culture has been permeated by an implicit understanding that complaints of discrimination and sexual harassment will not be taken seriously, and it is widely understood that Brammer is dedicated to protecting male executives.(Id.¶¶ 75-76.)During hertenure with the Agency Dunbar took it upon herself to challenge this environment and to mentor younger female colleagues.(Id.¶ 77.)Through these interactions Dunbar learned that a male employee whose reputation for workplace sexual misconduct was widely known had sexually assaulted a female subordinate in the presence of another male employee in 2014.(Id.¶¶ 78-79.)The female employee reported the assault to Brammer, who failed to hold the male employee accountable; he was instead promoted to one of the Agency's highest executive management positions.(Id.¶¶ 78-79.)Based on her own experience and that of her female coworkers, Dunbar complained to Hutter, reported sexual harassment and discrimination to Brammer as well as other supervisors, and asked the Agency to remedy its inadequate sexual harassment and discrimination training, but the Agency failed to address her complaints.(Id.¶¶ 81-82.)The Agency also neglected to interfere with numerous instances of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct perpetuated by a male IT engineer against multiple TracyLocke employees on the grounds that the IT engineer was employed by an outside company.(Id.¶¶ 83-85.)

Despite these challenges Dunbar's performance assessment for 2016-2017 yielded "exceptional" ratings in numerous categories (id.¶ 34) and she began pursuing a promotion to Group Creative Director.(Id.¶ 86.)Dunbar expressed her interest in this position to Executive Creative Director Phil Camarota("Camarota"), who was far less experienced than Dunbar and largely ignored her interest and efforts to take on new business opportunities, instead funneling these opportunities to men.(Id.¶¶ 87-89.)Camarota eventually informed Dunbar that "rather than promoting Dunbar, he was transferring a younger, less qualified, and less experienced male Creative Director, Chris DeSalvo, to the HP team and diverting many of Dunbar's projects and responsibilities to him—effectively demoting Dunbar," though Camarota referred to the move as a "restructuring."(Id.¶¶ 90-91.)Dunbar was the last member of the HP team to learn of therestructuring, which she believed was a punitive measure undertaken as part of the Agency's and Brammer's campaign to marginalize Dunbar for her efforts to pursue equal treatment and confront workplace harassment and discrimination.(Id.¶¶ 92-94.)On March 8, 2018, TracyLocke prepared "TL Props to Her" cards in recognition of International Women's Day, through...