Sink v. Knox County Hosp.

• Decision Date: 19 September 1995
• Docket Number: No. TH 93-220-C.,TH 93-220-C.
• Citation: 900 F. Supp. 1065
• Parties: Lisa A. SINK, Plaintiff, v. KNOX COUNTY HOSPITAL, d/b/a Good Samaritan Hospital, and the Board of Trustees of Knox County Hospital, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Indiana

900 F. Supp. 1065

Lisa A. SINK, Plaintiff, v. KNOX COUNTY HOSPITAL, d/b/a Good Samaritan Hospital, and the Board of Trustees of Knox County Hospital, Defendants.

No. TH 93-220-C.

United States District Court, S.D. Indiana, Terre Haute Division.

September 19, 1995.

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Barbara J. Baird, Macey Macey & Swanson, Indianapolis, IN, for plaintiff.

David J. Mallon, Jr., Sherry A. Fabina-Abney, Ice Miller Donadio & Ryan, Indianapolis, IN, for defendants.

ORDER ON MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

McKINNEY, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on the motion for summary judgment filed by defendants Knox County Hospital, d/b/a Good Samaritan Hospital and the Board of Trustees of Knox County Hospital (collectively the "Hospital"). The Hospital claims it is entitled to summary judgment against plaintiff Lisa A. Sink ("Sink") on the grounds that the conduct about which she complained was not sufficiently severe or pervasive to constitute hostile environment sexual harassment, and because the Hospital took prompt and appropriate corrective action. Further, the Hospital contends that Sink was discharged for lying on two occasions and jeopardizing client care, rather than in retaliation for filing an EEOC charge. For the reasons that appear below, this Court finds the defendants' motion to be well-taken in part, and therefore GRANTS summary judgment, in part, in favor of the Hospital on the claim of sexual harassment, and DENIES summary judgment on the claim of retaliation.

I. FACTUAL & PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Alleged Harassment

Sink's association with the Hospital began on September 9, 1991, when she was hired as a Chemical Dependency Therapist II for the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Center ("CCMHC"), which is operated by the Hospital. Her work in the Chemical Dependency Department ("CD") of the CCMHC brought her together with three male co-workers, Mike Joyce ("Joyce"), Keith Frazier, and Rick Warthan ("Warthan"). Individually or in teams of two the therapists administered various programs for CCMHC, including an Intensive Outpatient Program ("IOP"), various treatment groups, relapse prevention groups, and a Substance Abuse Intervention Program. Sink served as a co-therapist with Warthan in IOP group sessions. Although Sink, who has a bachelors degree in criminology, was not a certified chemical dependency therapist, she was working toward her certification and receiving training at CCMHC. Warthan, who was certified and had a masters degree in social work, was employed as a psychiatric social worker with the CD department. He had more experience than Sink, but he was not her supervisor. Initially, Sink was supervised by Jeff Brown, but he resigned in March of 1992. Jill Bailey, who was the Hospital's Coordinator of Clinical Services, assumed responsibility for supervision of the CD department and functioned as her immediate supervisor until the date of Sink's discharge, September 17, 1992. Both Brown and Bailey were supervised by John Vanderbeck, Ph.D., who was the Associate Director/Clinical of CCMHC.

Sink complains of three incidents that she describes as sexual harassment, and several more that she describes as "related to" sexual harassment. In early February, 1992, Sink and Warthan were planning to attend an out-of-town conference to be held on February 14, 1992. During a discussion about the conference Warthan allegedly made a comment about Sink giving him an early birthday present and their spending the night in a hotel.¹ Sink admits that she understood this to be a joke, but she indicated to both Warthan and Brown that she did not appreciate it. Sink Dep. at 54. Brown's response was to tell her not to take it personally because it was only a joke. Sink Dep. at 55.

The next two incidents occurred while Sink and Warthan were driving back from the conference together. They began discussing Sink's relationship with her boyfriend, and Warthan asked her if she was sleeping with him. Sink told him she did not wish to discuss it and he dropped the subject. Sink Dep. at 78, 83. Next the conversation turned to a discussion about a patient of Warthan's who had an eating disorder and was experiencing sexual problems. Warthan stated that his patient did not know how to stimulate herself and he asked Sink if she knew how to do that. Sink Dep. at 78-79. Warthan then indicated that he was uncomfortable trying to treat this patient and that he was considering referring her to another therapist. No other comments were made about this topic. Sink Dep at 79, 87. Sink did not report any of these incidents or comments to anyone (other than telling Brown she did not like the joke) at the Hospital until approximately the first week of May, 1992. Sink Dep. at 96, 108.

In the category of incidents that Sink claims are related to sexual harassment are the following:

1. In February, 1992, during another conference, Warthan allegedly "diagnosed" Sink as "histrionic and borderline" (Sink Dep. at 24);

2. In April, 1992, Warthan told patients during a group session that he would have to lead the group since Sink had come unprepared (Sink Dep. at 20);²

3. On or about May 4, 1992, Warthan, after overhearing a conversation in which Sink indicated a desire to date a certain patient, asked her if she would date a patient, warned her not to, and inquired about what she did during her therapy sessions; he also reported the incident to their supervisor, Bailey (Sink Dep. at 18, 102-03, 107; Bailey Dep. at 133-35);

4. Later that same day, during the break in a group session Sink was co-facilitating with Warthan, their former supervisor came in and gave them some pens from his new employer, another mental health facility, which contained the name and phone number of that facility; several patients were also in the room, and Warthan indicated to Brown that he had given Sink "supervision" that day, and then he told Sink to keep the pen because she might need the number (Sink Dep. at 1819, 110-114);³

5. Sometime in May, 1992, Warthan's wife stopped by CCMHC to get some money from Warthan, who was in Sink's office at the time; the bill he handed her dropped to the floor and when she picked it up he patted her head and said "good doggie," at which his wife laughed, but Sink felt this was Warthan's way of exhibiting dominance over women (Sink Dep. at 28-29);

6. On or about May 15, 1992, Warthan reported to Bailey that Sink was not properly handling the patients' charts, some of which he found in her office in various stages of completion; the following work-day (May 18, 1992) Bailey questioned Sink about the charts and told her to complete them and not to leave them in her office overnight, which was a violation of Hospital policy (Sink Dep. at 268-71; Bailey Dep. at 140-48);

7. On May 18, 1992, during a group session at which Sink was present, Warthan told the group that he and Joyce intended to make some improvements in the CD department, without mentioning Sink as a member of the department (Sink Dep. at 27);

8. On several unspecified occasions Warthan told Sink that if he were her supervisor she would be on probation or fired (Sink Dep. at 25, 93, 329, 527-28);

9. After Sink's May 21, 1992, complaint to the Hospital's Human Resources Department about all of these incidents, Bailey asked her why she took the problem "across the street," referring to the Human Resources office, and also told Sink not to talk to any more people about the problem (Sink Dep. at 195-98, 200, 202);

10. In early June, 1992, Sink discovered that no patients had been referred by either Warthan or Joyce to her relapse prevention therapy group scheduled to begin on June 4, 1992, which would reduce the number of clinical hours Sink could work (Sink Dep. at 196-98, 272-73, 284);

11. Also in early June, 1992, after Warthan had been "counseled" for sexual harassment, Bailey asked Sink to continue conducting therapy sessions with Warthan and to take on more assignments during which she would work with him (Sink Dep. at 190);

12. On or about July 10, 1992, during a CD Department meeting, Warthan and Joyce made negative remarks to and about Sink in Bailey's presence, and Bailey did not reprimand or otherwise correct them for such conduct (Sink Dep. at 187-90);

13. During the July 10, 1992, CD department meeting, attended by Bailey, Warthan, Joyce and Sink, Bailey expressed concern about how the charges Sink filed with ICAADA, the state credentialling organization for alcohol and substance abuse counselors, would affect the funding of the CD department (Sink Dep. at 497-98);

14. On more than one occasion from May, 1992, to September, 1992, Bailey told Sink not to discuss the sexual harassment problem with anyone, and on or about July 9, 1992, Bailey said she was concerned about how the sexual harassment issue was affecting Sink's work and indicated that she might have to cut Sink back to part-time work if she did not keep silent about it (Sink Dep. at 198-99).

Sink describes these incidents alternatively as "gender-based hazing," conduct related to sexual harassment, intimidation tactics, or retaliation. With the exception of Bailey's admonition to keep quiet, Sink does not relate any other incidents of this type after the July 10, 1992, meeting. During that meeting Bailey assigned Sink the task of watching a video and preparing questions based on the video for a group session on the following Monday. Sink could not find the video on Monday, did not prepare specific questions for the session, then allowed Bailey to believe that she had prepared the questions but had left them at home. Sink Dep. at 304-11. She later admitted to Bailey that she had not prepared any questions. At Sink's next supervision meeting with Bailey she was given a copy of an Employee Counseling Record, indicating that she had formally been disciplined for lying about completing the questions and for being unprepared for a session. Def...