Spellman v. Ohio Dep't of Transp.

• Decision Date: 22 March 2017
• Docket Number: Case No. 2:15–CV–1115
• Citation: 244 F.Supp.3d 686
• Parties: Lori SPELLMAN, Plaintiff, v. OHIO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

244 F.Supp.3d 686

Lori SPELLMAN, Plaintiff,
v.
OHIO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, et al., Defendants.

Case No. 2:15–CV–1115

United States District Court, S.D. Ohio, Eastern Division.

Signed March 22, 2017

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Jessica Olsheski, Olsheski Law Co., LPA, Columbus, OH, for Plaintiff.

Richard Nicholas Coglianese, Tracy Marie Nave, Ohio Attorney General's Office Employment Law Section, Columbus, OH, for Defendants.

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OPINION AND ORDER

EDMUND A. SARGUS, JR., CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Plaintiff Lori Spellman ("Spellman") brings this action against Defendant, the Ohio Department of Transportation ("ODOT"), alleging a hostile work environment for gender-based and sexual harassment and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. This matter is currently before the Court for consideration on Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment. (ECF No. 24.) For the reasons that follow, Defendant's Motion is GRANTED.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Lori Spellman began working for ODOT as a Highway Technician 1 in November 2009. (Complaint ("Compl.") ¶ 9, ECF No. 1.) Plaintiff alleges that she suffered gender-based and sexual harassment at the hands of her supervisor Robert Mock, her coworker Jenny Sowers, and her manager Ray Dailey, among others, at ODOT. (Id. ¶¶ 11–54.) For reporting this harassment to her managers, Plaintiff claims that she was subjected to a "campaign of retaliation." (Id. ¶ 31.) As described more fully below, Mock, Sowers, and Dailey each eventually faced disciplinary action, transfer, or termination for their conduct.

A. Transfer to Duncan Falls

Spellman was initially assigned to the Zanesville main garage in Muskingum County ("Muskingum County Garage") when she began her career at ODOT. (Deposition of Lori Spellman, Volume II ("Spellman Dep. Vol. II") at 256–57, ECF No. 19.) Spellman testified it was well known at ODOT that she was gay because on her first day at the Muskingum garage, Vikki Sharrock announced to everyone in the common area, "So Muskingum County has a new lesbian resident ... everybody knows what happened to the last lesbian that tried to work here."¹ (Spellman Dep. Vol. 1 at 64, ECF No. 18.)

In November 2011, former County Manager Ray Dailey transferred Ms. Spellman to the Duncan Falls outpost. Ms. Spellman resisted the transfer, however, because a particular employee there, Bob Mock, had a reputation for disliking gay people and women who worked in traditionally male roles. (Spellman Dep. Vol. II at 284.) Mark Meyers, who briefly served as the transportation manager at Duncan Falls, described Bob Mock as "old school"—meaning he believed that a man's place is to work and a women's place is to stay home, and also did not accept the gay lifestyle. (Deposition of Mark Meyers ("Meyers Dep.") at 28–29, ECF No. 31.)

Ms. Spellman states that she was harassed from day one at Duncan Falls. (Spellman Dep. Vol. 1 at 98.) Initially, Spellman's direct manager was Mark Meyers, who reported to Ray Dailey, the county manager. Her co-workers included Bob Mock, Brian Dunlap, Tim Mahon, Don Miller, Rob Lohrman, Josh McCormick, Alan Dickson, and Jenny Sowers. (Id. at 91–92, 95.) When Spellman and Mock were out fixing a guardrail on one of her first days, Mock kept asking her whether she knew the lady who owned the nearby house, stating that "she's like you" in a malicious manner. (Id. at 99–100.) When Spellman asked Mock what he meant, he answered, "Well, she plays softball." (Id. ) Spellman took his statement as an inference meaning

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lesbian, and replied: "I'm sorry, I don't know her, and there are no gay Yellow Pages that I know of in Zanesville." Mark Meyers also believed the comment was a reference to gay women. (Meyers Dep. at 17.) A few days later, Spellman went to Ray Dailey and asked if she could be transferred back to Muskingum County, but Dailey told her to "stick it out." (Id. at 158.) According to Spellman's testimony, other incidents that occurred during this time at Duncan Falls, such as:

• Bob Mock regularly ignored Ms. Spellman and her safety advice and warnings, including when a tree was about to fall on a coworker, but that Mock was receptive to communication from her male co-workers. (Spellman Dep. Vol. II at 299.)

• Mock said Spellman's partner was responsible for his son killing himself because he bought drugs at the bar where her partner worked. (Spellman Dep. Vol. I at 183–84.)

• Mock would demean Ms. Spellman and criticize her work with a chainsaw in front of her co-workers. (Spellman Dep. Vol. II at 303–04.)

• When Mock was promoted to Crew Leader, he made it clear that "he was the male, and the males were in charge." (Id. at 310.)

• At a previous office holiday party, Jenny Sowers made comments to several men that Ms. Spellman "doesn't want what you got between your legs ... she wants what I got between mine," which Spellman avers that Dailey overheard. (Id. at 321–22.)

• Spellman believed that Mock assigned her flagging duties because he thought women could only perform certain tasks. (Spellman Dep. Vol. 1 at 167–68.)

• Mock complimented other women in the office on their appearance, which Spellman perceived as criticism for not dressing as effeminately. (Id. at 146.)

• After raising concerns about the cleanliness of the bathroom, Spellman's co-workers referred to her as the "bathroom bitch." (Spellman Dep. Vol. III at 538.)

• Spellman states that Mock ordered her to cut a tree within the right of away, against ODOT regulation, and threatened to report her if she did not obey. Spellman replied that she would cut the tree if he ordered a male coworker to do the same. (Spellman Dep. Vol. II at 245.)

During this time period, Spellman avers that the harassment was so bad that she was throwing up on the way to work. (Spellman Dep. Vol. I at 112). Spellman reported these incidents to her manager Ray Dailey, as well as to Mark Meyers, Rex Prouty, and Brian Dunlap. (Id. at 127, 171–72).

B. January 5, 2012 Incident

On January 5, 2012, the crew was out on a job when Ms. Spellman requested to use the restroom multiple times. At the time, Spellman was suffering from kidney stones, which caused her pain and trouble with urination. (Id. at 112.) As crew leader, Mock permitted Ms. Spellman to use the restroom the first time, but when Spellman radioed Jenny Sowers (who was the middle person for the radio) for permission to use the restroom again, she replied that "Bob said you're just going to have to wait." (Id. at 117.)

When the crew returned to the breakroom, Mock confronted Spellman and asked if she had a medical condition that caused her to urinate so frequently. (Id. at 119.) Spellman responded that Bob was not allowed to ask her a question like that. (Id. ) Mock demanded that she answer in

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front of the rest of the crew. He continued to scream at her, saying that she was going to learn her place and that she needed to "grow some muscles and learn to pee in the woods like everybody else." (Id. at 120.) He also made a comment to the effect that his 80–year–old father could hold his bladder longer than she could. (Id. at 122.) Spellman testified that she was very scared during his tirade because she believed that Mock had previously assaulted other coworkers. (Id. ) Spellman eventually stated to Mock: "permission to pee, Bob?" to which he made some comment that she was learning her place. (Id. at 121.) Other crew members also recall the incident in a similar manner. (See e.g. Deposition of Joshua McCormick ("McCormick Dep.") at 24–32, ECF No. 30.)

Spellman testified that from that time on, she was afraid to ask permission to use the restroom, and instead would hide herself behind a truck door when she had to go to the bathroom. (Spellman Dep. Vol. I at 126.) Josh McCormick further recalls that Mock would order the entire crew to stop working and shut down the job when Spellman had to use the restroom because "if she didn't have to work, they didn't have to work." (Id. at 119, 129–30; McCormick Dep. at 24, 26.) Mark Meyers testified that if a job was properly staffed, there would be no need to shut down a job just because someone had to use the bathroom. (Deposition of Mark Meyers ("Meyers Dep".) at 31–32, ECF No. 31.)

Spellman reported the incident to Rex Prouty shortly thereafter, who then confronted Mock about it in the breakroom. Mock repeated his comments, which caused Spellman to start crying. She asked to take the rest of the day off, but was told to go back and do her work. (Spellman Dep. Vol. I at 125, Vol. II at 352.) Prouty reported the incident to Ray Dailey, and the next day, January 6, 2012, Spellman met with Prouty and Dailey. At the meeting, Spellman read a prepared statement summarizing her concerns with Mock and the rest of the crew. (Ex. 2 to Spellman Dep. Vol. I at 31, ECF No. 18–1.) Spellman primarily addressed her safety concerns, but ended with, "I should not have to tolerate outright harassing, demeaning, inflammatory and slanderous comments toward myself, especially...