Matewos v. Nat'l Beverage Corp.
| Decision Date | 24 October 2022 |
| Docket Number | 82662-0-I |
| Parties | YORDANOS MATEWOS and PETROS SHEFARE, Appellants, v. NATIONAL BEVERAGE CORPORATION d/b/a SHASTA BEVERAGE INCORPORATED, a foreign corporation; NICHOLAS HEATON, CASSIE HEATON and their marital community, Respondents. SHAUNTE CANNADY and CAMILE CHAVON CANNADY, Appellants, v. NATIONAL BEVERAGE CORPORATION d/b/a SHASTA BEVERAGE INCORPORATED, a foreign corporation; NICHOLAS HEATON, CASSIE HEATON and their marital community, Respondents. DARRYL ROBERTS and ADRIENNE ROBERTS, Appellants, v. NATIONAL BEVERAGE CORPORATION d/b/a SHASTA BEVERAGE INCORPORATED, a foreign corporation; NICHOLAS HEATON, CASSIE HEATON and their marital community |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
UNPUBLISHED OPINION
Three employees of National Beverage Corporation d/b/a Shasta Beverage Incorporated ("Shasta") challenge the summary judgment dismissal of sexual and racial harassment and race discrimination claims under the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD).[1] Because genuine issues of material fact exist with regard to these claims, we reverse.
In 2018 and 2019, Darryl Roberts, Shaunte Cannady, and Yordanos Matewos, three Black or African American employees at Shasta's Tukwila plant, filed separate lawsuits against Shasta and its plant manager, Nicholas Heaton, alleging violations of the WLAD and negligent supervision. Because we review a summary judgment order, we view the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving parties, here the plaintiffs.
Roberts who began working at the Shasta Tukwila plant in 2010, was the only Black employee at the time. Roberts raised a concern about this fact with Shasta early in his tenure with the plant. He called the human resources department to complain that Shasta was discriminating against Blacks. Shasta's Equal Employment Opportunity Information Sheet forms show that Shasta's Tukwila plant, with 75 employees, had a single Black employee in 2010, and between 1 and 4 Black employees between 2011 and 2016. The number rose to 10 in 2017.
Also early in his employment, he began experiencing racist remarks directed at him by fellow co-worker, Chhin Sim. Sim routinely used racial slurs in front of Roberts, such as the "N word." He also called Roberts racial epithets such as "monkey" and "g[o]rilla." Roberts testified that he reported the harassment to Heaton and to Shasta's human resources department several times, but never received a response. Heaton testified in a declaration that Roberts informed him that Sim had used racial slurs toward him, but in his deposition, Heaton stated he could not recall being told that Sim had used the "N word".
Shasta had employed Sim at the plant since 1996. There is evidence in the record that management employees at Shasta knew Sim was engaging in misconduct on the job. In 2012, Sim received a written warning for harassing and sending threatening text messages to another employee. In 2013, former employee Elvira Lopez complained to Shasta management that Sim was harassing her. Heaton "counseled" Sim to leave Lopez alone but took no other disciplinary action.
Multiple employees testified that Sim and Heaton were close, a relationship that Sim apparently flaunted, saying things like "I can do whatever I want I own this place" and "I have been here 22 years, Nick is my friend and I can do whatever I want." In 2010, Heaton posted a bail bond for Sim to obtain his release from jail.
He did so again in August 2011, when Sim was charged with driving on a suspended license and operating a vehicle without an ignition interlock.[2] At the end of 2013, Heaton's superiors reprimanded him for showing favoritism toward employees and bailing employees out of jail.
Sometime in early 2017, Heaton accused Roberts of smelling of cannabis and required him to leave the job site to obtain a drug test. According to Roberts, Heaton made this accusation only after Roberts challenged management's right, under the union collective bargaining agreement, to transfer him to the production line.[3] When Roberts denied Heaton's allegation of drug use, Heaton threatened to call the police in front of other employees. Heaton then followed Roberts as he left the building, talking into his cell phone as if he were in fact speaking to the police. When Roberts returned with negative test results, he told Heaton he intended to file an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint and seek legal counsel. Heaton testified that Roberts was not a good employee because "[h]e was argumentative."
Roberts filed his lawsuit on January 9, 2019. A few days later, two female Shasta employees provided statements to the employer in which one alleged that Roberts had sexually harassed her and one alleged that he had engaged in inappropriate conduct toward her. Randy Elliot, a Shasta production supervisor tried unsuccessfully to obtain similar statements from other female employees. On January 16, 2019, Shasta suspended Roberts pending an investigation into the complaints. In mid-February 2019, it notified Roberts that it was terminating his employment for violating the company's non-discrimination and anti-harassment policy, and for his "failure to adhere to reasonable workplace conduct standards."
Shasta hired Cannady to work at the plant in January 2017. He was employed there from January 3, 2017 until March 29, 2017 during what employees called their 90-day probationary period. Under Shasta's collective bargaining agreement with the union, Shasta has "ninety (90) calendar days of continuous employment after the initial date of hire to evaluate a new employee during which the employee may be terminated with or without just cause." After this probationary period, Shasta cannot discipline or terminate employees without just cause. Sixty days into his 90-day probationary period, Cannady received a positive review from production supervisor, Chris Holmes. Cannady testified he never received any discipline while working at Shasta.
On March 6, 2017, two of Cannady's African American co-workers, Miquan Powe and Brian Jenkins, told Cannady about the presence of racist graffiti in the men's bathroom. Canady saw a sign on a stall wall on which someone had written the phrase "Make Shasta White Again." Canady complained to an "upper management" employee named Joe. Joe told him he would look at the graffiti and report it to his "higher ups."
Powe, upset over the sign, took a picture of it and reported its presence to his supervisor, Randy Elliot:
(Image Omitted)
Cannady testified that four other employees saw the graffiti at the same time and "everyone was upset about it." He described the "whole vibe for the rest of the night was like a lot of edginess, a lot of people were just on edge from seeing that." Several of the employees told Joe that they wanted to go home and that the company needed to do something about it.
Cannady returned to work next on March 11, 2017, and saw that someone had crossed out the phrase "Make Shasta White Again," but someone had also rewritten the same words with a black "Sharpie" below the same statement. He took a picture of the second writing:
(Image Omitted)
Powe testified that he found a second sign, similar to the first, bearing handwritten graffiti that read: "And we hired [a] zoo keeper to tend the monkeys."
(Image Omitted)
Cannady, upset that the language remained in the bathroom, went to complain to Heaton and to ask why nothing had been done. Cannady was later shocked to see that this graffiti remained in place until the end of his shift that evening.[4]
Heaton testified he did not notify the corporate office about the graffiti, conducted no investigation into the incident to determine the perpetrator's identity, and thought he had taken care of the problem by holding a plant meeting and telling employees that the graffiti was "unacceptable."
Within days, on March 14, 2017, Holmes sent an e-mail to Heaton and other Tukwila plant supervisors recommending that Shasta terminate Cannady's employment at the end of his 90-day probationary period because he "w[h]ines too much about things." Holmes testified that he saw Cannady socializing when he should have been packing product. He also stated that the day before his March 14 e-mail, he heard Cannady refusing to assist in packing "variety packs" when instructed to do so. But another plant supervisor, Waylon Smith, responded to Holmes's e-mail that he had "no issues" with Cannady. Shasta terminated Cannady on March 29, 2017.
Cannady filed this lawsuit on March 5, 2018. In discovery, Shasta stated that the reason for Cannady's termination was Holmes testified that while Cannady was interested in his job at first, "he started having attitude about doing the work." He testified that about a month before Shasta terminated Cannady, Cannady was instructed to hand stack some variety packs and Cannady refused, saying "I wasn't hired to . . . do this." According to Holmes, Cannady made this statement to, or in front of, Teresa Davis. Cannady, however, presented evidence that Davis could not have reported negative work experiences with him before Holmes' March 14, 2017 e-mail criticizing his work because the work schedules showed Cannady only worked under Davis the first full week when he started in January (when Heaton stated Cannady was doing a good job) and then again on March 15 and 16.
Cannady also denied ever expressing any reluctance to...
To continue reading
Request your trial