Prater v. Lucky You, Inc.

• Decision Date: 09 December 2014
• Docket Number: Case No. 2:13-cv-549
• Parties: LEANNE PRATER, Plaintiff, v. LUCKY YOU, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

LEANNE PRATER, Plaintiff, v. LUCKY YOU, INC., Defendant.

Case No. 2:13-cv-549

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO EASTERN DIVISION

December 9, 2014

JUDGE SMITH

Magistrate Judge Kemp

OPINION AND ORDER

This matter is before the Court on Defendant Lucky You, Inc.'s Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 16). Plaintiff Leanne Prater filed a Response in Opposition (Doc. 20) to which Lucky You replied (Doc. 12). The issues before the Court are fully briefed and ripe for review. For the reasons that follow, Lucky You's motion is GRANTED.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs' claims center on an alleged incident of sexual harassment suffered by Plaintiff at her workplace and the subsequent retaliatory action allegedly taken by her employer for reporting the problem.

In May 2010, Plaintiff began working as an "attendant" at Lucky You, a gaming facility located in Jeffersonville, Ohio. (See Doc. 16, Ex. 3, Talmadge Long Aff. at ¶¶ 2-3). At that time, Lucky You owner Talmadge Long, his son Dean Long, and his wife Lillie Long all served as managers, overseeing the daily operations of the business. (Id. at ¶ 2). According to Plaintiff, she was a good employee and often went above and beyond what was expected of her. (See Doc.13, Prater Depo. at 65¹). Up until a few days prior to her termination, Plaintiff enjoyed working at Lucky You "a lot" and would often stay after her shift to play the machines on her own time. (Id. at 58, 112). According to her managers, Plaintiff's first year of employment went well: she worked hard and was liked by the customers. (See Talmadge Long Aff. at ¶ 3; Doc. 16, Ex. 2, Lillie Long Aff. at ¶ 3). Over time, however, they state that her work performance suffered as she "became argumentative and confrontational with coworkers" and brought "drama" and "her personal problems" to work. (Id.; Doc. 16, Ex. 1, Dean Long Aff. at ¶ 3).

During her two years of employment at Lucky You, Plaintiff received two formal write-ups. In November 2011, Plaintiff was written up for failing to fill out proper paperwork. (See Doc. 13, Ex. G, 2011 Write Up). In February 2012, Plaintiff was written up for being late to a mandatory employee meeting. (See Doc. 13, Ex. H, 2012 Write Up). Also, although not formally designated a "write-up," manager Lillie Long placed a note in Plaintiff's employee file on November 26, 2011 that stated: "Due to the amount of complaints from coworkers, Leanne's schedule has been changed until further notice. Leanne is bringing her personal life to work which is effecting [sic] her work performance. Leanne is also taking her personal life out on coworkers." (Doc. 16, Ex. 1, Note). Manager Lillie Long also testified that there had been "repeated performance coaching" of Plaintiff following coworker conflicts and complaints, but that none of those sessions were ever formally documented. (Lillie Long Depo. at 52).

The focus of Plaintiff's claims is a five-day span of work-related incidents in June 2012 which culminated in her termination. On May 31, 2012, Plaintiff worked her normal shift at Luck You from 4:00 p.m. to midnight. (Prater Depo. at 107). After her shift ended, Plaintiff went home, changed clothes, talked to her boyfriend, and then returned to Lucky You around 2:30 in the morning. (Id. at 107, 114). When she arrived at Lucky You, she rang the buzzer togain entrance into the facility.² (Id. at 114-15). Despite repeatedly ringing the buzzer, no one admitted Plaintiff into the building. (Id. at 115). Finally, after four or five minutes, a patron opened the door and let Plaintiff into Lucky You. (Id.). At that time, the patron complained to Plaintiff that she was there to play not let people in, and that she had been letting people in all night. (Id.). Plaintiff realized that Ben Merritt, the Lucky You employee working at the time, was running the vacuum and playing the radio loudly, which precluded him from hearing the buzzer and answering the door himself. (Id.) After reassuring the patron that she would remedy the situation, Plaintiff went to the front office and turned down the radio. (Id.). She then began to play the machines. (Id.).

When Mr. Merritt realized the radio was no longer playing, he approached Plaintiff to ask her about why she had turned off the music. This is where the stories conflict. According to Mr. Merritt, the following occurred:

I went over and asked Leanne, and I said, did you have the radio off. And she said, yeah, and she was real hateful with me. She said, I couldn't freaking hear. She said, I rang and rang and rang the bell. And I said, no, you never, Jeff said he let you right in. She just went off. She said, what is your F-ing problem. I said, I don't have a problem, Leanne. And she just went on and on and on and on. And I just put my hand up like, stop. I said, I'm going to have a talk with Lillie. And that made her mad, and she called me a cry baby and stuff like that. And I turned around and was walking away, and I said, if you wasn't out acting like a prostitute, you wouldn't be back there ringing the bell at 3:00 in the morning. And that's all I said.

(See Doc. 15, Merritt Depo. at 19).

Plaintiff recited a different encounter:

[Ben] asked me why in the fuck did I turn the radio off. And I told him, I said, Ben, in a really calm -- Ben, look, man, Joyce came and opened up the door. She's complaining, you know, and I'm basically telling him I'm trying to look out for him, I don't want him to get in trouble. . . .

And then he said -- I just looked at him, and I said, Ben. . . I'm trying to get you not to get in trouble. And he said, fuck you, bitch. And I -- and he said - that's when he started telling me that -- fuck you, bitch, suck my dick. You're nothing but a prostitute. You suck different men's dicks in the parking lot for money to come in here and play.

And I said, Ben, no, you didn't. He goes, oh, yes, I did. And he said -- I said, you need to lower your voice, Ben, because everybody in this place can hear what you're saying to me right now. And he said, I don't give you a fuck, you think I need this job, I can find a job anywhere. And I said, Ben, I'm going to call Lillie and tell her what's been going on.

He told me to call Lillie, he didn't give a damn. And he said, and how much do you charge out in the parking lot. And I ignored him when he said that. And I was trying not to cry. He was hurting my feelings really bad.

. . . .

[A]fter - I told him I was going to call Lillie, and he bowed up like he was fixing to charge me, and fixing to knock my head off, and he started - I said, what are you going to do that for, what is a girl possibly going to do. I'm saying it like that. And then he didn't say anything else after that.

(Prater Depo. at 116-17, 122).

Shortly after the confrontation, Plaintiff left Lucky You. She immediately called one of her managers, Lillie Long, and told her about the argument with Mr. Merritt. (Id. at 139-41). Lillie told Plaintiff that she "did the right thing" by calling her and letting her know what happened and that she would "handle it in the morning." (Id. at 142).

The following day Lillie spoke with Talmadge about the alleged argument over the phone. (Doc. 20, Ex. 1, Lillie Long Depo. at 32). Talmadge told Lillie to interview Plaintiff and Mr. Merritt separately to get both sides of the story. (Id. at 33). On June 2nd, Plaintiff and Mr. Merritt reported to Lucky You for their shifts. Lillie met first with Plaintiff and then with Mr. Merritt to discuss the incident. (Id. at 32). According to Lillie, both employees' stories were "pretty much the same besides who started it." (Id.). At that time, Lillie did not make any decision about terminating either Mr. Merritt or Plaintiff's employment; instead, she placed anote in each of their files indicating that "they had a confrontation in the front lobby." (Id. at 48). After the meetings were over, Lillie assigned Plaintiff and Mr. Merritt to opposite sides of the facility to finish their shifts in an attempt to avoid conflict. (Doc. 16, Ex. 2, Lillie Long Aff. at ¶ 10).

Plaintiff was alarmed that Mr. Merritt was still employed with Lucky You and that no action appeared to have been taken. She approached manager Dean Long and asked "what was up with that" and "what [Ben] was doing here." (Prater Depo. at 150). Here, the stories again conflict. According to Plaintiff, she discussed the incident with a co-worker during her shift, but never used any foul language or said anything bad about Mr. Merritt that day. (Id. at 162). According to manager Dean Long, Plaintiff "caused a scene in front of coworkers" during her shift on June 2nd, repeatedly referring to Mr. Merritt as a liar and a "mother fucker," and complaining about management's handling of the incident. (Doc. 16, Ex. 1, Dean Long Aff. at ¶¶ 4-5). This, Dean alleges, prompted a phone call to owner Talmadge Long, who, after hearing about Plaintiff's disruptive behavior during her shift, instructed Dean to write a termination letter and sign it on his behalf. (Id. at ¶ 5).

On June 4th, Plaintiff reported to Lucky You to pick up her paycheck. At that time, Dean Long handed her a termination letter. (Prater Depo. at 164). The letter stated the following with regard to the reasons underlying her termination:

This letter confirms your immediate dismissal from the Lucky You Company for behavior and performance which has created an adverse and argumentative work environment among management, co-workers, and customers. . . .

You are dismissed because, despite repeated feedback and performance coaching, this behavior has not improved. On several occasions, you were asked to refocus your behavior and conversations away from your disruptive personal issues and more towards improved performance and customer service, however; we have not benefitted from any of these performance coaching conversations. On the contrary, this continued behavior has caused an unhealthy working environment.

(Doc. 13, Ex. I, Termination Letter)....