Mathews v. Massage Green LLC
| Decision Date | 30 March 2016 |
| Docket Number | No. 14-cv-13040,14-cv-13040 |
| Parties | LATANYA MATHEWS, Plaintiff, v. MASSAGE GREEN LLC, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan |
Hon. Gerald E. Rosen
OPINION AND ORDER REGARDING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENTThis hostile work environment/retaliatory discharge case is presently before the Court on the Motion for Summary Judgment filed by Defendants Massage Green LLC, Massage Green Management LLC, Massage Green International Franchise Corp., and MG Utica, LLC d/b/a Massage Green (collectively referred to herein as "Massage Green"). Plaintiff has responded and Defendants have replied. Having reviewed and considered the parties' briefs and supporting evidence, the Court has determined that the relevant allegations, facts and legal arguments are adequately presented in these submissions, and that oral argument would not significantly aid the decisional process. Therefore, the Court will decide this matter "on the briefs." See Eastern District of Michigan Local Rule 7.1(f)(2). This Opinion and Order sets forth the Court's ruling.
Plaintiff LaTanya Mathews, an African-American, was employed as a massage therapist by Defendant MG Utica, LLC, from July 15, 2013 until May 11, 2014. MG Utica, LLC is a franchisee of Massage Green International Franchise Corporation ("MGI"). Allie Mallad is the president of MGI. He is also the controlling owner of Massage Green Holdings, Inc., which owns 100% of MGI.1
Mallad is also an MGI franchisee: he owns "somewhere between 27 and 32 Massage Green franchises," including MG Utica, LLC. [See Mallad Dep. p. 5.] Generally, each of Mallad's Massage Green spa franchises has a store manager; the store managers report to a district manager. [See Deposition of Paul Poterek, pp. 6, 10.] The district manager oversees a number of stores and reports to Mr. Mallad. Id., p. 11; Mallad Dep., p. 27.
Before working at MG Utica, LaTanya Mathews worked at other Massage Green spas owned by Mallad, in Troy and Birmingham, Michigan beginning in May 2013. She left the Troy job in July 2013 due to a "conflict" with the store manager. [Mathews Dep., p. 16.] Courtney Redmer, a district manager, suggested that Mathews seek employment at MG Utica since it was a new store and needed massage therapists. Id. at 20-21. Mathews later was contacted by Gina Lucaj, the store manager at MG Utica, who offered Mathews a position. Id. at 21. Mathews started at MG Utica "a day or two later," on July 15, 2013. Id. at p. 22; see also Paul Poterek Decl., Defendants' Ex. 1, ¶ 3.
Mathews alleges that a month after she started working at MG Utica, in August 2013, Gina Lucaj began to make offensive racial comments, both to clients in the presence of Mathews and to Mathews, personally. [Mathews Dep., pp. 60-66.] Mathews testified that Lucaj repeatedly called her a "black bitch" and a "nigger." Id. at 61-62. She also testified that on two to four occasions, clients said to Lucaj in the presence of Mathews that "'I do not want the nigger working on me,'" to which Lucaj responded, "'You don't have to have a nigger working on you, I can get a white person or a Caucasian person.'" Id. Mathews testified that Lucaj also made the "black bitch" comment to another female African-American massage therapist, Keyartay Washington. Id. at 63-64. However, she said that no such remarks were ever directed at Corey Darnell or Roshandria [LNU], the two other African-American massage therapists who workedat MG Utica. Id. at 65, 68.
According to Mathews, Lucaj's racial comments got worse over time and progressed to her "yelling and pretty much screaming" racial insults. Id. at 72-73. No MG Utica employee other than Gina Lucaj, however, made such racial comments. Id. at 61.
Notwithstanding Lucaj's alleged racially offensive comments, Mathews testified that she loved working at Massage Green, and loved working with all of the people at Massage Green right up until the time that her employment ended. Id. at 93-94.
Mathews also testified that Lucaj also made ethnically derogatory and ageist comments to a white male massage therapist, Tomasz Gadecki, repeatedly calling him a "stupid old Pollack" and belittling him about his religious beliefs and his health issues. Id. at 66.
Mathews testified that she sent an e-mail and had several phone conversations with Magdalena Ortiz, the district manager, in November-December 2013, regarding Lucaj's comments. Id. at 75-76. Ms. Ortiz was MG Utica's district manager from August 5, 2013 until December 13, 2013 when her employment was terminated. [Potarek Decl., ¶ 4; see also Mallad Dep., p. 28.]
Lucaj's employment at the Utica store ended on March 30, 2014 when she left to take a job as a district manager at another Massage Green spa. Shortly thereafter, on April 19, 2014, Lucaj was fired for misconduct unrelated to the allegations in this case.
Tomasz Gadecki's employment with MG Utica was terminated on January 7, 2014. [See Second Amended Compl., ¶ 20.] On February 6, 2014, Gadecki filed a charge of discrimination against MG Utica with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights ("MDCR"). Id. See also Gregory Johnson Dep., pp. 8-10.
In connection with his MDCR action, Gadecki identified LaTanya Mathews as a witness who could attest to Gina Lucaj making comments regarding age. Id. at 11. Gregory Johnson was the civil rights investigator assigned to Mr. Gadecki's case. Johnson spoke with Mathews on two occasions. Id. at 11-12. The first of these conversations, in February 2014, was "very short". Id. at 11, 18. After Johnson told Mathews he was investigating Mr. Gadecki's charge of discrimination, Mathews told Johnson that she "also had some issues," id. at 11, and Johnson "was prepared to take a complaint from her, but then she stated that she had filed with the EEOC." Id. at 11-12. Johnson told her that since she had filed with the EEOC, she needed to talk with the EEOC investigator. Id. at 18. He testified, "I didn't think it was proper [to discuss Mathews's issues] with the EEOC handling her situation." Id.2 Therefore, Johnsonmerely took Mathews's contact information for future reference as a witness with regard to Gadecki's charge. Id. 12.
Johnson's next conversation with Mathews was his witness interview of her in April 2014. Id. Mathews corroborated Gadecki's statement that Gina Lucaj had said in reference to Gadecki, "He's old, but he acts like a little boy." Id. at 13. Mathews also told Johnson that "Lucaj ... had told her that she would not promote individuals who were older because she wanted to project a younger image." Id.
After this second conversation with Mathews, Johnson called MG Utica's owner, Allie Mallad, on April 11, 2014, to obtain Gina Lucaj's contact information. Id. at 14. In that phone conversation, Johnson told Mallad that he had spoken with LaTanya Mathews but "did not give him any details [about their conversations]." Id. He testified that he never discusses a witness's testimony with anyone else in the case. Id. at 7.
According to Johnson, Mallad did not say anything at all about Ms. Mathews in that phone call. Id. at 14. However, because Mr. Gadecki had filed a charge and because Mathews had told Johnson that she had filed with the EEOC, he suggested to Mallad that he sit down and talk with both Gadecki and Mathews "to try to resolve it before it got out of hand." Id. at 15-16.
Mallad testified that, on Johnson's advice, he did contact Tomasz Gadecki in late April or early May 2014. [Mallad Dep., p. 106; see also Gadecki 7/13/15 Affidavit, Plaintiff's Ex. 1, ¶ 11.] Mallad never contacted Ms. Mathews. [Mathews Dep. at 76.]
Tomasz Gadecki suggests in an affidavit dated July 13, 2015 -- i.e., after Defendants filed their motion for summary judgment in this case -- that it was he, not Mallad, who initiated the contact. Gadecki states that he left a voice mail for Allie Mallad at the end of February or early March 2014 regarding his discrimination complaints and the denial of his unemployment benefits. [Gadecki Aff., Plaintiff's Ex. 1, ¶ 10.] According to Gadecki, in that voice mail message, he informed Mallad that three employees had written a letter in support of his unemployment claim, and that LaTanya Mathews was one of those employees. Id. He states that it was after he left that voice mail message, in late April or early May 2014, that Mallad called him. Id. at ¶ 11.
According to Gadecki, Mallad told him that he was getting in touch with employees who had been terminated or who were having issues at Massage Green, including the key witnesses Gadecki had identified to the MDCR. Id. at ¶ 13. Gadecki also claims that Mallad also indicated that he was going to inform his new district manager -- who, at the time, was Paul Poterek -- what he discussed with Gadecki. Id. at ¶ 14. Paul Poterek testified, however, that he was not made aware until two weeks before his deposition on May 10, 2015 that Gadecki had filed an MDCR complaint or that LaTanya Mathews participated in the MDCR investigation of Gadecki's complaint. [Poterek Dep., pp. 44-47.]
Besides Mallad, Gadecki and Mathews, the only other person connected with MG Utica contacted by MDCR Investigator Johnson was Gina Lucaj. [Johnson Dep. at 15].Johnson testified that he did not discuss Mathews with Lucaj; he only spoke with her about the allegations that Lucaj had made ageist comments about Gadecki and that she was not promoting older people. Id. "[Lucaj] denied having made any comments to anyone of that nature." Id.
As indicated, Gadecki also filed a claim for unemployment benefits with the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency ("UIA") which was contested by MG Utica. [Second Amended Compl., ¶ 22...
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