Ruppel v. City of Valley Park, No. ED 93719 (Mo. App. 5/18/2010)
| Decision Date | 18 May 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. ED 93719.,ED 93719. |
| Parties | ROXANNE RUPPEL, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. CITY OF VALLEY PARK, Defendant/Respondent. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Appeal from the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, 08SL-CC01043, Honorable Tom DePriest, Jr..
Before Glenn A. Norton, P.J., Mary K. Hoff, J., and Lawrence E. Mooney, JJ.
Roxanne Ruppel (Ruppel) appeals from the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the City of Valley Park (the City) on Ruppel's petition alleging that the City discriminated against her because of her sex when it terminated her employment, in violation of the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA), Section 213.0551. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.
The record in this case, viewed in the light most favorable to Ruppel, the party against whom summary judgment was entered,2 establishes the following facts:
In January 2002, Ruppel began working for the City as a full-time office clerk. Ruppel was an at-will employee. Ruppel's job duties included sanitation billing, helping the building commissioner with issuing permits, and interacting with citizens at the front office counter. The City paid Ruppel approximately $12 per hour plus benefits. Later, the City asked Ruppel to perform some work on the City's website. Ruppel performed the website work from her home on an overtime basis. The City paid for training classes so that Ruppel could eventually program and maintain the website rather than paying an outside firm to do the work. The City's clerk, Marguerite Wilburn (Wilburn), was Ruppel's supervisor. According to Ruppel's personnel file, Ruppel was considered to be a good employee and performed her job duties well.
In April 2005, Jeff Whitteaker (Whitteaker) was elected mayor of the City. Wilburn was Whitteaker's sister. Whitteaker knew of Ruppel, and he had developed a favorable impression of her ability to do her job. Whitteaker believed that Wilburn appreciated having Ruppel as an employee and that Wilburn also had a favorable opinion of Ruppel. Sometimes, after meetings of the board of aldermen, Whitteaker would ask Ruppel to "go get a beer or something." Occasionally, Ruppel would meet Whitteaker and others at a tavern or a restaurant, but, on two or three occasions, Ruppel and Whitteaker went out alone. Some of the aldermen characterized Whitteaker as "flirtatious" with women.
In December 2006, Ruppel and Whitteaker began a romantic relationship. Both Ruppel and Whitteaker were married to other people, but neither made a concerted effort to keep the relationship a secret. Some employees of the City and some members of the board of aldermen either knew about or had heard rumors about the relationship. Wilburn began to suspect Ruppel and Whitteaker were having an affair.
In early 2007, Ruppel was still fulfilling her job duties as she had before the relationship began, but Wilburn perceived that Ruppel's "attitude was different" and that the "atmosphere was different between all the employees there and [Ruppel]." Wilburn came to believe that the relationship caused "a lot of turmoil and chaos in the office." Wilburn became angry about the situation and notified Whitteaker's wife of the relationship.
On two occasions, Whitteaker's wife came to the City's place of business. On the first occasion, Whitteaker's wife asked one of the City employees to provide her with some telephone records. On the second occasion, Whitteaker's wife confronted Ruppel and asked to speak with her privately. Whitteaker's wife and Ruppel went into another office and shut the door, but Wilburn could hear them shouting at one another for several minutes. Whitteaker's wife also called Ruppel at work several times and left voice messages. At one point, Alderman Mike White (Alderman White) told Ruppel that the only way to end the turmoil in the office, which had been caused by Ruppel and Whitteaker's relationship, was for Ruppel to leave the City's employment.
In April 2007, while still performing her job duties for the City, Ruppel demonstrated a technique for placing a stamp on campaign literature for Alderman Steve Drake (Alderman Drake). A few days later, Wilburn issued a letter to all of the City's office employees warning them that assisting political candidates on the City's time was a violation of City policy and grounds for discipline or termination. Wilburn did not specifically discipline Ruppel.
Meanwhile, in the spring of 2007, during executive session meetings of the board of aldermen, some of the aldermen began raising questions about Ruppel and Whitteaker's relationship. All of the aldermen were males. Whitteaker, the entire board of aldermen, the City's attorney, and Wilburn were present at the executive session meetings. At one of the executive session meetings, Alderman Michael Pennise (Alderman Pennise) asked Whitteaker whether he was "having a sexual relationship with [his] secretary." At the time, Ruppel was still working as an office clerk, but some of the City's personnel and aldermen had begun describing her as Whitteaker's "secretary." Whitteaker replied, "[W]hat I do on my time is my business, and what you do on your time is your business." Alderman Pennise also said he was going to "do [Whitteaker] a favor" by firing Ruppel. Alderman Daniel Adams (Alderman Adams) commented that he "was going to try to help [Whitteaker] out."
In June 2007, at a meeting of the board of aldermen, some of the aldermen decided that Ruppel's role in showing the stamping technique to Alderman Drake two months earlier was a violation of the City's policy prohibiting employees from engaging in political activity during work hours on City property. Some of the aldermen moved to discipline Ruppel by suspending her from work for a week without pay. After discussion, it was decided that Ruppel's supervisor, Wilburn, would discipline Ruppel. However, Alderman Drake believed that "everything got completely and totally blown out of proportion," that the City's decision to discipline Ruppel for showing him how to place stamps on envelopes was "stupid" and "odd," and that "a big to do was made out of a big nothing." Nevertheless, on June 5, 2007, Wilburn issued a disciplinary notice to Ruppel referencing her alleged violation of the City's political activity policy and indicating that Ruppel would be suspended for a week without pay.
Pursuant to the procedures stated in the City's employee manual, Ruppel immediately sent to the mayor, Whitteaker, a written letter appealing her suspension and requesting a review of the matter. Ruppel complained that she should not have been disciplined at all because she had not violated any City policy by demonstrating for Alderman Drake the method for placing stamps on campaign letters. Ruppel further complained that the suspension was issued in violation of the City's policy of reprimanding employees within seven days of an incident, that the suspension was too severe for the situation, and that one of the aldermen supporting the decision to suspend her had asked Ruppel to create, on City time, a CD copy of the City's voter registration list for his own election campaign. Whitteaker subsequently issued a written directive to Wilburn finding the "punishment excessive and untimely" and "rescinding the suspension with instructions that the Notice of Suspension be removed from [Ruppel's] file and that [Ruppel] not forfeit any pay as a result of the suspension."
Whitteaker subsequently informed Ruppel that the board of aldermen was upset about the relationship and were taking steps to force Ruppel to leave the City's employment. Whitteaker told Ruppel that "he could protect [her]" because "he had control of the board." However, during a board of aldermen meeting at which Ruppel was present, some of the aldermen appeared angry and commented publicly about Ruppel and Whitteaker's relationship. Alderman Eddie Walker (Alderman Walker), Wilburn's brother-in-law, asked whether Ruppel would quit if the board of aldermen cut her hours of employment.
Consequently, during a committee meeting on June 21, 2007, Alderman Adams introduced a motion to hire a part-time secretary for the mayor's office, beginning August 1, 2007. In addition to working for the mayor, the part-time secretary was to be responsible for managing the City's web page and for soliciting donations for the City's legal defense fund in a case involving a challenge to an ordinance. Alderman Adams suggested that Ruppel be moved from her current full-time office clerk position to the part-time secretary position. Ruppel's full-time position included benefits; the part-time secretary position did not. In contrast, no one suggested impeaching, officially sanctioning, or reprimanding Whitteaker because of his relationship with Ruppel. In fact, Alderman Adams believed that, as long as Whitteaker was performing his duties as mayor of the City, the board of aldermen could not impeach Whitteaker for engaging in a romantic relationship with a City employee.
On August 1, 2007, Ruppel became the mayor's part-time secretary. In addition to working directly for Whitteaker, the City wanted Ruppel to continue maintaining the City's website. However, Ruppel soon found that she could not perform the duties of her new position and adequately maintain the website within the twenty-five hours she was authorized to do the work. Whitteaker suggested that Ruppel demand the board of aldermen enter into a contract for Ruppel to perform the website maintenance. Ruppel subsequently informed the board of aldermen that she would continue the website work only if the board would agree to pay her for the work at a rate of $35 per hour. The board of aldermen refused Ruppel's offer. Some of the aldermen stated that Ruppel had ample time in her position as Whitteaker's secretary to be able to continue the website work along with her other job duties.
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