Hill v. Ford Motor Co.

• Decision Date: 24 February 2009
• Docket Number: No. SC 88981.,SC 88981.
• Citation: 277 S.W.3d 659
• Parties: Cynthia HILL, Appellant, v. FORD MOTOR COMPANY, Ken Hune, And Paul Edds, Respondents.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

277 S.W.3d 659

Cynthia HILL, Appellant, v. FORD MOTOR COMPANY, Ken Hune, And Paul Edds, Respondents.

No. SC 88981.

Supreme Court of Missouri, En Banc.

February 24, 2009.

Ferne P. Wolf, D. Eric Sowers, M. Beth Fetterman, Sowers & Wolf, LLC, St. Louis, for Appellant.

Kathleen M Nemechek, Stephen M. Bledsoe, Charlie Harris, Berkowitz Oliver Williams Shaw & Eisenbrandt, LLP, Kansas City, MO, for Respondents.

Marie L. Gockel, Lynne Jaben Bratcher, Kristie L. Kingston, Kansas City, MO, Amicus Curiae Kansas City and St. Louis Chapters of the National Employment Lawyers Association.

LAURA DENVIR STITH, Judge.

Cynthia Hill appeals the grant of summary judgment to Ford Motor Company and Paul Edds¹ on her claim under the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA).² She alleges that while working at a Ford assembly plant, she was subjected to sexual harassment by a supervisory level employee, Ken Hune, which created a hostile work environment. She further alleges that she was suspended and directed to obtain psychiatric treatment in retaliation for rejecting Mr. Hune's sexual harassment and in return for previously having filed an unrelated discrimination claim.

This Court reverses the judgment and remands the case. Factual questions exist as to the cause of Ford's referral of Ms. Hill for psychiatric treatment and her suspension that preclude the grant of summary judgment on her hostile work environment claims of sexual harassment against Ford. Similarly, fact issues exist that preclude summary judgment on her claim that the suspension and referral for psychiatric treatment constituted retaliation by Ford against her for complaining about Mr. Hune's harassment and for filing her earlier claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"). Both the claim for a hostile work environment and the claim for retaliation are governed by the MHRA, not by federal law. See §§ 213.055 and 213.070; Daugherty v. City of Maryland Heights, 231 S.W.3d 814, 818 (Mo. banc 2007).

The Court reverses the grant of summary judgment to Mr. Edds as well. The MHRA permits suit to be brought against supervisory employees such as Mr. Edds, not just against the company itself, and the failure to make him a party at the administrative action before the EEOC or the Missouri Commission on Human Rights ("MCHR") will bar suit against him only if it resulted in prejudice. This Court therefore remands so that the trial court can consider whether such prejudice occurred.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Cynthia Hill worked as a production employee at Ford Motor Company's assembly plant in Hazelwood. In 2001, Ms. Hill filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC and the MCHR. She received "right to sue" letters from both agencies in June 2002. Shortly thereafter, Ford removed Ms. Hill from her permanent position in Ford's trim department ("trim") and made her a "floater," meaning she moved from job to job, as assigned, within that department. She does not sue over the assignment as a floater.³

While working as a floater in trim, Ms. Hill worked with a variety of people, sometimes including a supervisor named Kenny Hune. Mr. Hune had become a supervisor in trim in April 2002. He frequently asked Ms. Hill for details about her pan ties and bra, such as whether she wore zebra prints, and if so, did that reflect her animal instincts, and made other sexual comments. He asked Ms. Hill how much she weighed and said he could bench press her. Ms. Hill let Mr. Hune know she was offended by and did not like the sexual comments he made. Mr. Hune told Ms. Hill and another female employee that he wanted one on top and one on bottom and once told Ms. Hill he could use an hour of "h____d." Ms. Hill rejected these sexual advances. In mid to late August, Mr. Hune asked Ms. Hill "what is it about me that you don't like?" Ms. Hill explained that she was not interested in him in any way except professionally.

Ms. Hill and other female Ford employees spoke to their group leader, Pete Wade, about the problem with Mr. Hune's inappropriate sexual comments. Within one or two months after Mr. Hune became a supervisor in trim, Mr. Wade spoke with Mr. Hune's own supervisor, superintendent Maurice Woods, and told him of Mr. Hune's inappropriate, sexually harassing behavior. Superintendent Woods said he would talk to Mr. Hune.

In September 2002, Superintendent Woods told Ms. Hill to give him a list of available permanent jobs within her medical restrictions, as he did not like having unassigned "floater" employees; he also said he then would decide which job she would fill. Ms. Hill identified three open positions, only one of which, the "cladding" job, would require her to work continuously under Mr. Hune's direct supervision.⁴ Superintendent Woods nonetheless assigned her to the cladding position. Mr. Hune told Superintendent Woods that he did not want Ms. Hill working for him and that she would work there over his dead body. Ms. Hill claims that the following day, September 5, 2002, when she showed up at Mr. Hune's office to start her job in cladding, Mr. Hune slammed the door in her face and told her he was not going to let her have the job.

While what happened next is disputed hotly by the parties, according to Ms. Hill, Mr. Hune became increasingly angry and came at her in an aggressive way. As she backed away, she says, she pushed her safety glasses up on her head. Mr. Hune then said, "Aha, you're not wearing your glasses. Go upstairs for not wearing your glasses"—a safety infraction. Mr. Hune then called security and announced he had a "hostile worker." Security arrived and led Ms. Hill upstairs to the labor relations department.

Once in labor relations, management employee Sheron Wright led a meeting with Ms. Hill and Mr. Hune and two union representatives to discuss what just had occurred. When Ms. Wright learned that Ms. Hill believed the incident arose out of Mr. Hune's sexual harassment of her, the meeting was paused until Paul Edds, labor relations supervisor, could join them. Ms. Wright later denied this was why the meeting was paused, but admits Mr. Edds did attend. Ms. Hill says that as she told her story about Mr. Hune's harassment of her, Mr. Edds interrupted and told her not to come back to work until she got psychiatric help. Mr. Edds then instructed the employee assistance program coordinator to take Ms. Hill to the plant physician and set up a consultation. The physician was not in, so no appointment was scheduled.

During the September 5, 2002, meeting, Ms. Hill at first thought Mr. Edds meant that he understood she might need counseling to help her deal with the harassment, but later she realized that was not the case. Therefore, she called Ford's 24-hour "Hotline," (established to receive reports of sexual harassment) on September 9, 2002, and reported that after she complained about being sexually harassed, she was told she was crazy, needed psychiatric help, and was sent home from work.

An hour after Ms. Hill called the hotline, Mr. Edds called Ms. Hill at home and rescinded his order that she see a psychiatrist. Mr. Edds then suspended Ms. Hill for three days for "disrespecting" her supervisor, including refusing to put on her safety glasses when instructed to do so. At the time of or after Ms. Hill's call to the hotline, another employee complained to Superintendent Wood about Mr. Hune's sexual harassment. Mr. Edds began an investigation of Mr. Hune and, eventually, fired Mr. Hune. In that investigation, Mr. Edds did not ask interviewees about Mr. Hune's conduct toward Ms. Hill, although he did ask about conduct toward the other employee who had complained about him. Mr. Edds never interviewed Ms. Hill while investigating Mr. Hune.

Ms. Hill did not return to work immediately at the conclusion of her three-day suspension as her personal physician recommended that she take a medical leave from her job. Ms. Hill returned from her medical leave December 1, 2002; Mr. Hune already had been terminated when she returned.

In November 2002, Ms. Hill filed with the MCHR and EEOC her charges of discrimination against Ford, alleging unlawful discrimination in the form of sexual harassment resulting in a hostile work environment and retaliation in the form of suspension and mandatory referral for psychiatric help, based on her reporting of the above facts and on the fact that she previously had filed a claim with the EEOC and MCHR.

Ms. Hill did not name Mr. Edds as a party in the formal charge filed with the MHRC and the EEOC. No attempt at conciliation was undertaken at the administrative level by either the MHRC or the EEOC; both simply issued her a right to sue letter. She then filed suit against Ford, Mr. Hune, and Mr. Edds.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The propriety of a grant of summary judgment is purely an issue of law which this Court reviews de novo. ITT Commercial Fin. Corp. v. Mid-Am. Marine Supply Corp., 854 S.W.2d 371, 376 (Mo. banc 1993). The criteria on appeal for testing the propriety of summary judgment are no different from those which should be employed by the trial court to determine the propriety of sustaining the motion initially. Id. This Court reviews the record in the light most favorable to the party against whom judgment was entered. Id. Summary judgment is appropriate where the moving party has demonstrated, on the basis of facts as to which there is no genuine dispute, a right to judgment as a matter of law. Id. Summary judgment seldom should be used in employment discrimination cases, because such cases are inherently fact-based and often depend on inferences rather than on direct evidence. Daugherty, 231 S.W.3d at 818. Summary judgment should not be granted unless the evidence could not support any reasonable inference for the nonmovant. Id.

III. EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION CLAIMS UNDER THE MHRA

A. The Missouri Human Rights Act, Not Federal Case Law, Provides the Framework for Analyzing Discrimination and...