Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Wyeth, No. C02-3075-MWB (N.D. Iowa 2/16/2004)
| Decision Date | 16 February 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. C02-3075-MWB.,C02-3075-MWB. |
| Parties | EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff, v. WYETH d/b/a Fort Dodge Animal Health, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa |
Deborah J. Powers, Jean P. Kamp, Rosemary Fox, Milwaukee, WI, for Plaintiff.
Neven J. Mulholland, Johnson, Erb, Bice, Kramer, Good & Mulholland, PC, Fort Dodge, IA, for Defendant.
In a hard fought lawsuit against defendant Wyeth, which operates a veterinary pharmaceutical facility in Fort Dodge, Iowa, plaintiff Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"), asserts claims of sexual harassment and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 based on the allegation of a long time animal care worker, Shelly R. Kirchhoff. In considering Wyeth's motion for summary judgment, the key issue here is not whether Kirchhoff was "harassed." Wyeth maintains Kirchhoff's tormentor, a male coworker in the same department, was an equal opportunity harasser who harassed his male and female coworkers alike. Thus, Wyeth argues that his conduct was gender-neutral and non-actionable on sexual-harassment grounds. Therefore, among the issues in dispute in this litigation is whether the "harassment" Kirchhoff suffered was because of Kirchhoff's sex. Other issues raised by Wyeth's motion for summary judgment include whether the "harassment" in question was sufficiently severe and pervasive to be actionable, and whether Wyeth knew or should have known that the "harassment" was because of Kirchhoff's sex.
On September 18, 2002, the Equal Errployment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") filed a complaint in this court against defendant Wyeth, d/b/a Fort Dodge Animal Health, alleging two causes of action: (1) a claim of sexual harassment, in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.; and (2) a claim of retaliation for reporting a hostile work environment, in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e. Specifically, the EEOC asserts that defendant Wyeth permitted a sexually hostile work environment to exist at its Fort Dodge, Iowa, facility, and that Shelly R. Kirchhoff was retaliated against when she reported acts of harassment to Wyeth managers and Wyeth's human resources department, and later when she filed a charge of sexual discrimination with the EEOC.
Defendant Wyeth has filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on all of the EEOC's claims. In their motion, defendant Wyeth claims that the EEOC cannot establish a prima facie case of hostile work environment sexual harassment because the alleged conduct was not based on Kirchhoff's sex. Defendant Wyeth also claims that the EEOC cannot establish that the alleged harassment was so severe or pervasive as to alter a term, condition, or privilege of employment. Third, defendant Wyeth asserts that the EEOC cannot establish that Wyeth knew or should have known about the alleged harassment. Defendant Wyeth further asserts that the EEOC cannot establish that Wyeth failed to take appropriate remedial action when it was informed of harassing conduct on the job site. Moreover, defendant Wyeth claims that the EEOC cannot establish a prima facie case of retaliation because Kirchhoff did not engage in a protected activity and there was no resulting adverse employment action. Finally, defendant Wyeth asserts that it had legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for their actions and that the EEOC cannot establish that Wyeth's proffered reasons were a pretext for illegal discrimination.
On December 3, 2003, the EEOC resisted defendant Wyeth's Motion for Summary Judgment, arguing that there are genuine issues of material fact in dispute regarding all of its claims. On December 18, 2003, defendant filed a reply brief in response to the EEOC's resistance. On December 31, 2003, the EEOC moved for leave to file supplemental affidavits and a brief in opposition to the motion for summary judgment. Following the filing of a resistance to the EEOC's motion, the court granted the EEOC's motion on January 15, 2004, and granted Wyeth until January 22, 2004, in which to file any response it had to the EEOC's sur-reply brief and supplemental affidavits.
Before discussing the standards for defendant Wyeth's Motion for Summary Judgment, however, the court will first examine the factual background of this case.
The summary judgment record reveals that the following facts are undisputed.
Fort Dodge Animal Health manufactures veterinary biologicals and pharmaceuticals designed for use in common animals, as well as horses, beef cattle, dairy cattle, swine and sheep. The Animal Care Department of Fort Dodge Animal Health is located on 360 acres of land, although the Responsible Animal Caretakers have job duties on only 80 percent of that area. The Animal Care Department is separated from Fort Dodge Animal Health's main plant, and the department has a private lunch room, offices, dressing room and showers due to concerns of cross-contamination. The Animal Care workers do not often see workers from the main plant or other departments.
The animals in the Animal Care Department are housed in various outbuildings scattered across the many acres of the department. A Responsible Animal Caretaker is responsible for caring for the animals and must be skilled in handling, selecting, feeding, and otherwise caring for production, control and research animals. Team work is required for performing certain duties of a Responsible Animal Caretaker since workers sometimes have to work side-by-side to accomplish tasks. Tasks in Animal Care which might require team work include: lifting crates weighing 75 to 100 pounds and which may be eight feet high; working with or restraining large animals such as cattle or horses; and caring for the animals.
During breaks and the lunch hour, the Animal Caretakers gather at the central meeting area. In addition, workers gather there every morning to receive their daily assignments. The Animal Caretakers may drive to the various outbuildings to which they are assigned. Because there are not enough vehicles for each worker to have his or her own truck, workers often have to carpool. Animal Caretakers are not directly supervised when they perform their day-to-day duties in the outbuildings and may be the only people present at the outbuildings.
Animal Care workers who are first to complete their portion of the duties in a particular area may, depending on their assigned duties, assist their coworkers in completing tasks until the work in the assigned building is completed.
Shelly R. Kirchhoff has been employed by Wyeth d/b/a Fort Dodge Animal Health, in various capacities from April 30, 1990, to the present. In October of 1997, Kirchhoff bid on and was awarded the position of "Responsible Animal Caretaker" in the Animal Care Department at Fort Dodge Animal Health and has remained in this position to the present time. Since 1997, Kirchhoff has been the only woman in the general rotation of the Animal Care Department. Kirchhoff is capable of performing all her job duties and responsibilities. From 1997 until approximately June of 2003, Myles Van Patten and LeeAnn Ihrke were Kirchhoff's direct supervisors. Van Patten and Ihrke were responsible for scheduling in the Animal Care Department, which included assigning animal care workers to outbuildings. During her tenure in the Animal Care Department, Kirchhoff has worked every route Van Patten has assigned to her. She has never requested to be kept off the schedule for any specific route because of the difficulty of the work. Van Patten has not scheduled Kirchhoff for light duty or easier jobs more often than her coworkers and he evenly rotates the job assignments among all workers in the department.
Although there are no assigned seats in the Animal Care Department, employees usually sit in the same seat during breaks and when receiving assignments from supervisors. When Kirchhoff first started working in Animal Care, Jeff Spencer, a coworker, was seated ahead of Kirchhoff. Later in 1997, Spencer moved his seat to a table next to Kirchhoff at which he was facing her all of the time.
In February of 1998, Tom Dinka, a coworker, reported to LeeAnn Ihrke, a supervisor in the Animal Care Department, that while he was working in the Cal Bio building with Kirchhoff that he had observed Jeff Spencer staring at Kirchhoff through the office's windows. Spencer had no supervisory duties regarding Kirchhoff and was not responsible for her work performance.
In response to Dinka's report, Ihrke asked Kirchhoff about Spencer's reported behavior. Ihrke told Kirchhoff that Fort Dodge Animal Health was required by law to follow up on Dinka's report. In February of 1998, Kirchhoff reported the following to Ihrke: that in 1997, Spencer told Kirchhoff that she "ought to think about bidding out" of the department, but Spencer didn't threaten her or act in a hostile or abusive manner at that time; that in 1997, Kirchhoff overheard a telephone conversation between Spencer and his wife in which he called his wife a "stupid bitch"; that in 1998, Spencer had been following Kirchhoff; that in 1998, Spencer was out of his assigned work area; that in 1998, Spencer had yelled at Kirchhoff that she wasn't doing her job; that in 1998, Spencer had yelled to Kirchhoff's coworkers that they were doing all the work and that their backs must be hurting from carrying Kirchhoff all day; that in 1998, Spencer had watched Kirchhoff while she worked; that in 1998, while Kirchhoff was loading a truck, Spencer stood approximately 100 yards away and yelled, "What the fuck is taking you so long?", "What the fuck are you doing?" and "Jesus, you're slow."
In response to her discussion with Kirchhoff, Ihrke...
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