Imhoff v. Kmart Stores of Indiana, Inc.

• Decision Date: 25 May 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00 cv 0256 AS.,00 cv 0256 AS.
• Citation: 149 F.Supp.2d 559
• Parties: Charlotte IMHOFF, Plaintiff, v. KMART STORES OF INDIANA, INC. and KMart Corporation, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana

149 F.Supp.2d 559

Charlotte IMHOFF, Plaintiff, v. KMART STORES OF INDIANA, INC. and KMart Corporation, Defendants.

No. 00 cv 0256 AS.

United States District Court, N.D. Indiana, South Bend Division.

May 25, 2001.

W. Douglas Thorne, James R. Byron, Jacob S. Frost, Elkhart, IN, for Plaintiff.

Richard A. Smile, Melissa S. Vare, Bradley L. Wilson, Indianapolis, IN, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ALLEN SHARP, District Judge.

This cause is before the Court on the Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment filed on February 23, 2001. The Plaintiff, Charlotte Imhoff, filed a Complaint with this Court alleging that KMart discriminated against her based on sex and retaliated against her for filing complaints objecting to sex discrimination and harassment, all in violation of her federally protected rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Imhoff claims that this discrimination and harassment ultimately lead to her termination in June, 1999, after twenty-four years of employment with KMart. The Plaintiff also alleges that the Defendants' conduct was so severe and outrageous as to amount to an intentional infliction of emotional distress. Both parties are represented by able counsel who have filed extensive briefs and supporting documentation on the issues. After considering the submissions of the parties and the case law on the issues, the Court now rules as follows.

I. JURISDICTION

Jurisdiction is based upon the presence of a federal question under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C § 2000e, and is proper pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1)-(3) and 28 U.S.C. § 1331.

II. RELEVANT FACTS

There are very few material facts in this case that are not disputed by the parties. The Court has before it a massive factual record containing numerous disputed issues. Nevertheless, the Defendants assert that there are no genuine issues of material fact relating to Plaintiff's claims in this matter and that KMart is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56.

At the summary judgment stage, the Court must take all unchallenged facts as true, and resolve factual disputes in favor of the nonmoving party, in this case, the Plaintiff. Therefore, for purposes of this motion, the Court assumes that Plaintiff's version of the facts is correct, except where Defendants have provided additional facts which the Plaintiff did not challenge.

Imhoff began her employment with KMart on January 9, 1975, upon graduation from college. Pl.'s Statement of Material Facts at 1 ("Pl.'s Stmt"). She was hired initially as an assistant manager. Id. She was transferred approximately five times to different stores to fill assistant manager's position between 1975 and 1987, usually at KMart's request. Id. However, once during this time period, she requested a transfer, which was granted. Id. KMart paid her expenses for all of these transfers. Def.'s Statement of Material Facts at 1 ("Def.'s Stmt"). In 1988, Imhoff was promoted to the position of Store Manager in Atlantic, Iowa. Id. The Plaintiff's career progressed, and she had a track record of turning stores around that were in trouble and losing money. Pl.'s Stmt at 3. Imhoff consistently received positive evaluations, either meets or exceeds expectations, with commendations for her leadership abilities, her communications skills, her interpersonal skills, and her general management abilities. Id. In 1996, Imhoff took over as manager of Defendants' store in Elkhart, Indiana, where she increased sales performance each year that she was there. Id.

However, in 1998, Imhoff's relationship with her employer began to sour, beginning shortly after she complained to corporate headquarters and to the regional office about what she believed to be sexual harassment by a corporate executive. Pl.'s Br. in Opp. at 2. The executive, John Curry, was at Plaintiff's store to supervise an extensive renovation project. Pl.'s Stmt at 11-12. Curry engaged in conduct while at the store that included touching female employees, including the Plaintiff, pulling female employees up to his chest, discussing "wet dreams" with female employees, and making constant phone calls to female employees, including calls to the Plaintiff late at night. Id. A number of female employees were subjected to similar conduct by Curry, and supported the Plaintiff's decision to report the conduct to corporate headquarters, although one employee warned the Plaintiff, "It's your career." Id.

The Plaintiff filed her first report of sexual harassment with corporate headquarters in August, 1998. Id. Nothing was done in response to this report. Instead, in October, 1998, Curry was back in the Elkhart store engaging in the same conduct, including touching the Plaintiff. Id. The Plaintiff filed her second complaint of sexual harassment, this time to Dave Haluska, District Manager in the regional office, who then reported the incidents to the Regional Director of Human Resources, Gayle Sullivan. Id. This time, the complaint was investigated, and Plaintiff was told that Curry would no longer be coming to her store. Id.

About the time of the second complaint, the District Manager's position in Plaintiff's district came open. Id. at 13. The Plaintiff was not considered for the position, even though she had been placed on the Defendants' Succession Planning List by her previous District Manager, Dave Haluska, who considered the Plaintiff to be the logical choice for the position.¹ Pl.'s Mem. in Opp. at 12-13, Haluska Dep. at page 62. An outside human resources evaluation firm, Personnel Decisions, Inc., also concluded that the Plaintiff "appears ready for the District Manager Position at KMart." Id. This outside firm noted that the Plaintiff had "primary strengths" in the areas of interpersonal skills and communication.

Instead of being promoted, Plaintiff received her first reprimand from the Regional Office in October, 1998. Pl.'s Stmt at 13. In January, 1999, Tim Rommel was promoted to the open district manager's position. Id. Rommel was a male manager who was not on the Succession Planning List.² In February, 1999, after being denied the promotion to district manager, Plaintiff complained to the new district manager that she felt there were gender inequities at KMart in terms of both pay and advancement opportunities. Id. The Plaintiff claims that at the time she was denied the promotion, there was only one female district manager out of twenty-five in the Great Lakes Region, and that she was subsequently demoted. Id. at 14. The current Regional Vice President, Stephen St. John, testified in his deposition that up to this point, he could not recall that he had ever promoted a woman to the position of district manager in his career. Pl.'s Br. in Opp. at 15; St. John Dep. at page 40.

Immediately after complaining about sex discrimination and unequal treatment, Plaintiff believes she became a target for KMart, beginning with an investigation conducted in a such an unusual manner that it was unprecedented at KMart.³ Id. To conduct the investigation, Regional Manager Rod Brumley came to the store unannounced and proceeded to call a number of employees into the office and meet with them privately. Id. The reason given for this investigation was the receipt of two anonymous letters complaining about the Plaintiff, one in December, the other in January. Id. at 16. One of these letters had already been investigated by the previous District Manager, Haluska, and found to be meritless. Id. Haluska documented this conclusion in a written report submitted to Gayle Sullivan, Regional Director of Human Resources. The Plaintiff supports her claim that this investigation was unprecedented with deposition testimony from several long-time KMart employees.⁴ Pl.'s Stmt at 15.

Over the next few months, Plaintiff's store was visited with increased frequency by various members of Defendants' regional management. During these visits, Imhoff was criticized and reprimanded in front of her subordinates, told she was "never going to make it," told, "You're not going anywhere," told that she should consider resigning from KMart, and given highly critical comments over minor issues. Id. at 17-18. One of the visits was from Sullivan, who was more sympathetic and promised that she would follow up on Plaintiff's complaints of sex discrimination. Id. However, in her report, Sullivan⁵ stated that when Plaintiff asked if Sullivan agreed with her theory that there was a "conspiracy" in the company to eliminate females from management, and/or prevent them from achieving promotions into upper level management and executive positions, Sullivan responded that she absolutely did not agree. Sullivan Letter, Pl.'s Ex. 35. She stated in her report that Imhoff was defensive about the issues they had discussed, and in particular, her request to transfer, the investigation from Brumley, and the corporation's "conspiracy against women." Id. Sullivan noted that it was difficult to discuss these issues with the Plaintiff because "she had her mind set." Id. Sullivan never followed up with an investigation into the allegations. Pl.'s Stmt. at 18. She explained in her deposition that she did not investigate the complaints because she considered them mere "opinion," and not bona fide complaints. Id.; Sullivan Dep. page 189.

In August, 1998, in December, 1998, and again in March, 1999, the Plaintiff asked to transfer out of the region for various reasons. Pl.'s Stmt at 19. Once, she asked for a transfer that would put her closer to her elderly parents, but was informed that if she was transferred for personal reasons, she had to pay her own expenses. Id.; Pl.'s Ex. 19, page 4. She also asked for a transfer in her conversation with Sullivan in March because she did not think there was any further opportunity for advancement where she was. Id. The Defendants transferred at least one male employee during this time for...