Jeffries v. State of Kan.
| Citation | 147 F.3d 1220 |
| Decision Date | 17 June 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 96-3381,96-3381 |
| Parties | 77 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 28, 73 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,387, 127 Ed. Law Rep. 647, 98 CJ C.A.R. 3142 Leslie Ann JEFFRIES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. STATE OF KANSAS, Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit) |
Alan V. Johnson, Sloan, Listrom, Eisenbarth, Sloan & Glassman, L.L.C., Topeka, Kansas, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Gregory A. Lee, Gehrt & Roberts, Chartered (Linda Jane Kelly Coates and Betsy B. Patrick, for the State of Kansas, Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, with him on the brief), Topeka, Kansas, for Defendant-Appellee.
Before SEYMOUR, Chief Judge, ANDERSON and HENRY, Circuit Judges.
Leslie Ann Jeffries filed an employment discrimination action against the State of Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. The district court granted defendant's motion for summary judgment on all claims. See Jeffries v. State of Kansas, Dep't of Social & Rehabilitation Servs., 946 F.Supp. 1556 (D.Kan.1996). At issue in this appeal is Ms. Jeffries' allegation that she was subjected to hostile environment sexual harassment, that her supervisor retaliated against her for invoking the SRS sexual harassment policy, and that she was constructively discharged from her job. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm in part and reverse in part.
From August 30, 1991, until May 22, 1992, Leslie Ann Jeffries was employed as a resident chaplain and student in the Clinical Pastoral Education Program (CPE Program) at Osawatomie State Hospital (the Hospital), a facility governed by the rules and regulations of the State of Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS). The CPE Program provides specialized pastoral training to seminary students who in turn provide spiritual care to those patients who request it. Because they minister to Hospital patients and receive a salary for doing so, residents in the CPE Program are considered state employees.
Ms. Jeffries' participation in the CPE Program was governed by a one-year contract with the Department of Pastoral Care and Education running from August 30, 1991, through August 29, 1992. The contract provided for extension "by mutual consent of both parties," and for termination upon thirty-days' notice. Aplt.App. at 70. Resident students in the CPE program customarily renewed their contracts for at least a second year. Norma Stephens, a former superintendent of the Hospital who served on the CPE Program committee for many years, testified that she could not recall any student whose application for a second year had been rejected, nor could she recall any occasion on which the committee voted contrary to the renewal recommendation of the director of the CPE Program.
At all relevant times, the Reverend Dr. Ed Outlaw was the director of the CPE Program, an employee of SRS, and Ms. Jeffries' direct supervisor. As director of the program, Dr. Outlaw was the person most responsible for making decisions regarding residents' applications and continued employment. In addition to supervising and assigning the clinical duties for each student in the CPE Program, Dr. Outlaw also provided their pastoral education. According to Dr. Outlaw, the educational and employment aspects of being a resident chaplain are inseparably linked "because the only reason that a resident ever came to this program and came into an employment relationship was because of education." Id. at 130. The resident students must be supervised by someone accredited by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (as Dr. Outlaw is) in order to receive educational credit for their work at the Hospital.
When Ms. Jeffries began the CPE Program, Dr. Outlaw assigned her to the Hospital's substance abuse program and asked Glen Hoyt, a fellow resident student who had just completed sixteen months as the substance abuse chaplain, to orient Ms. Jeffries to the program and her pastoral duties. On October 4, 1991, Ms. Jeffries was alone in her office on the substance abuse ward at the Hospital when Mr. Hoyt entered and began to close the door. Ms. Jeffries immediately asked Mr. Hoyt to leave the door open, but Mr. Hoyt replied that he wanted to hug Ms. Jeffries and did not wish to be seen. Mr. Hoyt then swiftly approached Ms. Jeffries, hugged her, placed his legs around her so she could not retreat, and kissed her on the neck and mouth.
Mr. Hoyt had hugged Ms. Jeffries on at least one prior occasion and she did not consider that hug to be inappropriate. Indeed, Ms. Jeffries had told members of the CPE Program that she desired platonic hugs. However, Ms. Jeffries viewed the second hug differently. As she described the incident:
[He] invaded my space very rapidly. I felt [his] penis against my body. There was a kiss on my neck and on my mouth and it startled me, stunned me, scattered me, scared me.
Id. at 110. Although Ms. Jeffries testified that she did not consider Mr. Hoyt's hug to have a "sexual connotation," she considered it to be "sexual behavior" which had the effect of intimidating and offending her. She testified:
I think sometimes violence plays its way out in sexual behavior, but it isn't sexual. It appears to be violence rather than sex like rape is violence rather than sex.
Id. at 113. Ms. Jeffries testified further that she "didn't like having his penis rammed up against my body" and that she felt Mr. Hoyt intentionally caused his penis to touch her. Id. The hug and kiss by Mr. Hoyt lasted about three seconds or less, at which point Mr. Hoyt left the room. Ms. Jeffries did not inform Mr. Hoyt at that time that his actions were unwelcome. Ms. Jeffries later discovered that Mr. Hoyt had once been verbally reprimanded by the Hospital administration for making repeated unwelcome requests to a nurse that she have lunch with him. 1
On December 12, 1991, Ms. Jeffries told Dr. Outlaw about the inappropriate hug during a weekly individual supervisory meeting without identifying Mr. Hoyt as the perpetrator. Ms. Jeffries provided further details of the hug at a subsequent supervision meeting, and when Dr. Outlaw asked her if Mr. Hoyt was the one who hugged her, Ms. Jeffries acknowledged that he was. At that point, Dr. Outlaw asked Ms. Jeffries how she wished to handle the situation and she responded that she wanted to confront Mr. Hoyt about the incident in Dr. Outlaw's presence. Dr. Outlaw then told Ms. Jeffries that she was probably overreacting to the incident because he had not received any other complaints about Mr. Hoyt. 2 However, Dr. Outlaw did subsequently inform Mr. Hoyt during an individual supervisory session that his behavior was unacceptable and that he should have no further physical contact with Ms. Jeffries. 3 After Ms. Jeffries complained to Dr. Outlaw about Mr. Hoyt's inappropriate hug, Mr. Hoyt had no further physical contact with her.
The incident became a topic of discussion during several meetings of the CPE Program's interpersonal relations group (the IPR group), which consisted of Ms. Jeffries and three men--Dr. Outlaw, Mr. Hoyt, and resident student Jerry Muncey. The IPR group is the centerpiece of the CPE Program's educational component, providing a forum for the student residents to discuss issues they confront in caring for the patients, as well as issues involving the students' relationships with one another. Dr. Outlaw testified that the key factor in a successful IPR group is the "covenant relationship," whereby the group members promise to keep the group's interactions confidential. Id. at 125. Dr. Outlaw acknowledged that he instructed Ms. Jeffries not to discuss the inappropriate hug outside the group, both to maintain the covenant and because he was concerned that allegations of sexual harassment would damage the CPE Program. 4
Ms. Jeffries initially wanted to work through her problem with Mr. Hoyt in the IPR setting. At one point, for example, she wrote to Dr. Outlaw:
We viewed the "hug" from several angles, both on Monday and again on Friday. I knew I wanted to talk about it again on Friday, but I didn't want to infringe on Glen. I'm always amazed when I keep my mouth shut for so long. In this meeting it seemed important that Glen be the one to introduce the topic.
Id. at 65. On one occasion, Mr. Hoyt apologized to Ms. Jeffries for the hug. Ms. Jeffries then offered a "make-up hug," which Mr. Hoyt declined. Id. at 63. However, Ms. Jeffries soon became frustrated that the group viewed Mr. Hoyt's conduct as merely "inappropriate," rather than as an act of "sexual perversion," and at times suggested that her behavior may have led Mr. Hoyt to believe that she welcomed the hug. Ms. Jeffries expressed these frustrations to Dr. Outlaw in her weekly progress reports, suggesting that the group's failure to label Mr. Hoyt's conduct as a sexual attack was itself a form of sexual harassment:
I think the wound to me came when you didn't believe me. Then when Glen described the hug, you believed it was innocent. You believed that I experienced distress and that the hug was only inappropriate.
* * * * * *
I do not see how giving has anything to do with sexual power plays.... A concern is that I am not getting a fair hearing and am not being understood.... I just get settled down and think I can work with that person and then we go another round and I feel put down, aside and out about it all. Do you understand that when it comes up each time, it is as if it is happening again? And you always rush off some place and leave me to deal with it alone. I know why I wanted to die in the hospital. I go through that every time a pervert gets hold of me. Sexual violations go to the innermost part of the soul. They wound the spirit. I think he does not have a clue about what he did, how what he did affects the women he...
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