Horney v. Westfield Gage Co.

• Decision Date: 01 May 2000
• Docket Number: No. Civ.A. 99-30175-KPN.,Civ.A. 99-30175-KPN.
• Citation: 95 F.Supp.2d 29
• Parties: Anita J. HORNEY, Plaintiff, v. WESTFIELD GAGE CO., et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

95 F.Supp.2d 29

Anita J. HORNEY, Plaintiff, v. WESTFIELD GAGE CO., et al., Defendants.

No. Civ.A. 99-30175-KPN.

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts.

May 1, 2000.

Donna M. Cuipylo, W. Roxbury, MA, for Anita J. Horney, plaintiff.

Timothy J. Ryan, Crevier & Ryan, Springfield, MA, for Westfield Gage Co., Richardson Patterson and Edward Woodis, defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER REGARDING DEFENDANT EDWARD WOODIS' MOTION TO DISMISS (Docket No. 09)

NEIMAN, United States Magistrate Judge.

Pursuant to FED.R.CIV.P. 12(b)(6), Edward Woodis ("Woodis") has moved to dismiss this sexual harassment and discrimination complaint insofar as it is brought against him individually as a supervisor of Anita Horney ("Plaintiff"). Neither Richard Patterson nor Westfield Gage Co., the other defendants, presents any motion for the court's consideration. Woodis' motion raises several issues, the most important of which is whether he may be held individually liable for Plaintiff's injuries pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. For the reasons which follow, the court will grant Woodis's motion, but only in part. The parties have consented to the jurisdiction of this court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c) and FED.R.CIV.P. 73(b).

I. STANDARD OF REVIEW

When confronted with a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, a court must view the facts as presented in the pleadings, and all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. See Acadia Motors, Inc. v. Ford Motor Co., 44 F.3d 1050, 1055 (1st Cir.1995). A dismissal for failure to state a claim is appropriate only if it appears, according to the facts alleged, that the plaintiff cannot recover on any viable theory. Rumford Pharmacy, Inc. v. City of East Providence, 970 F.2d 996, 998 (1st Cir.1992). The issue is not whether a plaintiff will ultimately prevail, but whether she is entitled to offer evidence to support her claims. See Vartanian v. Monsanto Co., 14 F.3d 697, 700 (1st Cir.1994); Day v. Fallon Community Health Plan, Inc., 917 F.Supp. 72, 75 (D.Mass.1996).

Ordinarily, if a court takes any documents into consideration other than those which are attached to the complaint or expressly incorporated therein, a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss must be converted into one for summary judgment. FED.R.CIV.P. 12(b). Exceptions, however, are made "for documents the authenticity of which are not disputed by the parties; for official public records; for documents central to the plaintiffs' claim; or for documents sufficiently referred to in the complaint." Watterson v. Page, 987 F.2d 1, 3 (1st Cir.1993). Here, Plaintiff has submitted documents, without opposition from Woodis, that meet most, if not all, of the above exceptions. Accordingly, the court has considered those documents without converting the motion into one for summary judgment.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The following facts are assumed to be true for purposes of the instant motion. Plaintiff was employed by Westfield Gage Co. ("Westfield Gage") from April 14, 1994 until April 9, 1998. At all relevant times, Woodis was a Quality Control Manager at Westfield Gage, a supervisory position with respect to Plaintiff.

Plaintiff's employment history at Westfield Gage can be summarized briefly. During Plaintiff's four-year tenure, she received no negative job evaluations and faced no disciplinary actions. Her pay, in fact, was increased twice during 1995. In 1996, Plaintiff was promoted to a supervisory position. Then, during the summer of 1997, Plaintiff was promoted again, this time to the Inspections Department. Plaintiff was fired on April 9, 1998.

The complaint alleges several instances of unequal treatment regarding Plaintiff's employment at Westfield Gage. For example, Plaintiff claims to have received no mentoring in her Inspections Department job, unlike males starting in the same position. Plaintiff also asserts that neither her 1996 nor her 1997 promotion resulted in her being compensated at a level commensurate with similarly situated males. To be sure, Plaintiff requested — and ultimately received — a salary increase for her Inspections Department job directly from Louis Filios, the owner of Westfield Gage. Woodis, however, upon learning that Plaintiff went over his head, told Plaintiff that she would be terminated if she "ever did that again."

Plaintiff alleges other instances of harassing conduct during her employment. On February 7, 1997, Plaintiff filed a complaint of "unequal and harassing treatment" with the company's human resources department after a manager apparently used profanity in her presence. (Complaint ¶ 16.) Plaintiff thereafter made several additional complaints that Woodis had "used sexually offensive language when speaking with her[,] ... referred to her in a crude and sexually offensive manner[,] ... spoke of her mother in sexually derogatory terms ... [and] routinely spoke of a woman's `place' and `purpose' in an offensive and sexually derogatory manner." (Id. ¶ 17.)

Purportedly, Westfield Gage took no action in response to Plaintiff's complaints. Moreover, beginning in October 1997, Plaintiff's overtime hours were severely restricted while her male colleagues' hours were not. In addition, Plaintiff, unlike her male co-workers, was required to perform tasks outside her job responsibilities.

A final incident occurred on April 9, 1998, when, Plaintiff alleges, Woodis subjected her to further "abusive and hostile behavior." (Id. ¶ 22.) Plaintiff reported the incident to the human resources department and left work. Plaintiff was immediately called back to the Westfield Gage premises and summarily terminated. Although the complaint does not identify the exact reason why Plaintiff was fired — and the reason is not germane to this motion — Woodis avers in his answer to the complaint that Plaintiff was "mutually terminated" because "she didn't seem to be working out." Plaintiff, on the other hand, suggests that the termination was due to her departure from work without her supervisor's permission.

III. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On April 16, 1998, Plaintiff, proceeding pro se, timely filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination ("MCAD") a charge which named Westfield Gage as the respondent. The body of the charge alleged, inter alia, that both Woodis and Westfield Gage's General Manager, Richard Patterson ("Patterson"), had contributed to the discrimination Plaintiff suffered. It appears that an investigative conference was held on September 21, 1998.

Both Westfield Gage and Patterson, but not Woodis, were initially served with the charge. On January 8, 1999, however, Plaintiff, then represented by counsel, moved to amend the charge by specifically naming Woodis as a respondent. Woodis was served with the motion to amend on January 13, 1999, and, three months later, an attorney notified the MCAD by letter that he represented Woodis. The MCAD scheduled a conference on the motion to amend for May 11, 1999. Just prior to the hearing, however, Plaintiff requested, and was ultimately granted, permission to withdraw her MCAD charge and file suit in court. The MCAD charge was thereafter dismissed.

On August 10, 1999, Plaintiff filed this eight-count complaint. In it, Plaintiff alleges that Westfield Gage, Patterson and Woodis subjected her to sexual harassment and thereby violated Title VII (Count I) and the Massachusetts anti-discrimination statute, MASS.GEN.LAWS ch. 151B (Counts III and IV), and retaliated against her for opposing the harassment in violation of both Title VII and Chapter 151B (Count V). Plaintiff also alleges that Westfield Gage, by and through its agents, violated federal and state equal pay acts by better compensating males for comparable work (Counts VI and VII) and discriminated against her because of her gender in violation of Title VII (Count II). Finally, Plaintiff's complaint asserts that all three defendants intentionally or negligently inflicted emotional distress upon her (Count VIII).

On October 8, 1999, Woodis moved to dismiss all claims directed at him as an individual. Plaintiff filed an opposition brief on October 22, 1999, and the court thereafter heard oral argument. After the hearing, the court requested the parties to submit supplemental briefs addressing the Supreme Court's recent decisions in Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775, 118 S.Ct. 2275, 141 L.Ed.2d 662 (1998), and Burlington Indus., Inc. v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. 742, 118 S.Ct. 2257, 141 L.Ed.2d 633 (1998). The court is now poised to resolve the motion.

IV. DISCUSSION

There are three principal questions raised by Woodis' motion. First, may he, as a supervisor, be held individually liable pursuant to Title VII for Plaintiff's injuries? The answer to this question governs Counts I, II and V (insofar as it relates to Title VII) of the complaint. Second, is Woodis properly before the court on those claims Plaintiff pursues under Chapter 151B, i.e., Counts IV, V (insofar as it relates to Chapter 1516) and, perhaps, III (insofar as it may be directed at Woodis individually)? The issue underlying this second question is whether the MCAD charge sufficiently identified Woodis such that the instant action may be maintained. Third, is Plaintiff's common law claim against Woodis for emotional distress, set forth in Count VIII, preempted by either Chapter 151B or the Massachusetts Worker's Compensation Act, MASS.GEN.LAWS ch. 152? The court will address each question in turn.

A. Individual Supervisor Liability Pursuant To Title VII

Woodis first argues that there is no individual supervisor liability under Title VII and, therefore, that the Title VII claims against him as an individual, Counts I, II and V (insofar as it relates to Title VII), should be dismissed. Woodis maintains that the "majority" — as it turns out, every — circuit court which has addressed the issue has found that there is...