Wells v. AAA N. Jersey
| Decision Date | 08 July 2020 |
| Docket Number | DOCKET NO. A-2885-18T2 |
| Parties | SHANIQUE WELLS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. AAA NORTH JERSEY, DAVID HUGHES, President in his official capacity and individually, and CHARLES SHOTMEYER, Chairman of the Board, Defendants-Respondents. |
| Court | New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division |
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.
Before Judges Sabatino, Sumners and Geiger.
On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Passaic County, Docket No. L-3338-16.
Hunt, Hamlin & Ridley, attorneys for appellant (Ronald C. Hunt, of counsel and on the briefs).
DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Giblin, LLP, attorneys for respondents (Susan E. Volkert, of counsel and on the brief; Gregory J. Hazley, on the brief).
Plaintiff Shanique Wells, formerly employed by AAA North Jersey (AAANJ), filed suit alleging claims under the Law Against Discrimination (LAD), N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 to -49, and the Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA), N.J.S.A. 34:19-1 to -14, against AAANJ, its President David Hughes, and the Chairman of its Board of Directors Charles Shotmeyer. She appeals the Law Division's November 28, 2018 order granting defendants summary judgment dismissal of her LAD complaint and denying in camera review of documents prepared by defendants' counsel, and its January 23, 2019 order denying her motion for reconsideration.1 Having reviewed the record in light of the governing legal principles, we reverse and remand in part.
We summarize the following facts from the record, viewing "the facts in the light most favorable to [plaintiff,] the non-moving party." Globe Motor Co. v. Igdalev, 225 N.J. 469, 479 (2016) (citing R. 4:46-2(c)).
Wells was hired as a marketing manager at AAANJ in November 2013. At that time, Hughes was one of several Vice Presidents of the company and a member of its Board of Directors, and Shotmeyer was the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Wells was directly supervised by James Dugan, also a company Vice President and a member of its Board of Directors.
Wells alleges that soon after she was hired, she was subjected to inappropriate, sexually lewd behavior by Hughes. In anticipation of her going to a national AAA meeting, Wells claims Hughes asked her if she was going to meet with a woman named L.C.2 Wells said she was, and alleges Hughes told her to When Wells returned from the meeting, she contends Hughes asked her if she met with L.C. and if she "check[ed] out [L.C.'s] rack, and what [she] thought of it." Wells stated she replied,
Wells stated she subsequently notified Dugan and L.C. of Hughes' remarks. Dugan allegedly told her to ignore Hughes because she did not haveto report to Hughes and that he would serve as a buffer between them. Wells also learned from Dugan that L.C. had filed a complaint about Hughes' behavior in the past and L.C. was advised to no longer work directly with Hughes. Wells did not, at that time, file a complaint with AAANJ's Human Resources Department (HR).
According to Wells, the next incident took place around a year later, in November 2014, when she went to Hughes' office to remind him she was waiting for some information from him. She alleged Hughes showed her a picture of a bikini-clad woman on his computer and told her to "check her rack out," declaring "that's a nice set." He also asked her how she thought she compared with the woman. Wells contends she again complained to Dugan, telling him:
I'm not trying to -- I don't want to run to HR every time something is said to me that's inappropriate, because that's not who I am. I've never done it, I don't want to do it, but this dynamic has got to change, because I don't want to feel like every time I'm alone with -- he's going to say something or make me feel uncomfortable, as he continues to make me feel.
Wells stated Dugan replied he would "take care of it, and [she] believed him."
About three months later, in February 2015, Dugan emailed his concerns about Hughes to Shotmeyer in light of rumors that AAANJ's president was going to be forced out, Hughes was going to become president, and presumablyDugan's own job may be in jeopardy. The email criticized Hughes' judgment, business decisions, and possible conflicts of interest, but did not report accusations of sexual harassment by employees against Hughes. In March, the rumors bore truth, as Hughes became President of AAANJ.
In May, Wells claimed Hughes' sexually lewd behavior happened again when:
Wells stated she balled the picture up and threw it in a garbage can. She later retrieved it and presented it to Dugan, telling him she couldn't "keep doing this." Dugan told her he would "take care of it."
On July 1, Wells was promoted to Director of Marketing. Later that same month, she contended Hughes inappropriately felt up her leg when the two were momentarily talking alone in a breakroom. Wells stated the next morning she reported the incident as well as the penis drawing incident to Kathy D'Amico, AAANJ's HR Manager. Wells alleges she was told HR could not do anything about Hughes' behavior because HR reported to him. Dugan also discussed an incident where Hughes touched Wells' leg, stating he was present, but he couldn't recall where the incident took place.3 He believed Wells probably informally complained about the incident without filing a formal complaint.
Wells contended another incident took place on July 16. She was conducting a meeting with two other employees while sitting on a folding table facing the door when Hughes walked into the room asking "[i]s that an invite[]" while raising an eyebrow and making a thrusting motion with his pelvis. Wellsmaintains she jumped off the table and promptly adjourned the meeting. Dugan acknowledged Wells told him about this incident and he told her to document it.
A week later, on July 22, Wells stated she advised D'Amico and her assistant about the many instances that Hughes sexually harassed her. D'Amico, Wells recalled, reiterated that HR had no authority to address her complaints against Hughes, suggesting there was nothing HR could do about his behavior.
Sometime in April 2016, Wells claims she advised Dugan that Hughes told her he cosigned a student loan for the daughter of an AAANJ board member. Wells thought this was inappropriate and possibly contrary to the company's conflicts of interest policy. Dugan, agreeing with her, advised Shotmeyer of the situation.
When Wells was later confronted in her office by an upset Hughes who threatened to "write [her] up for missing an e-mail," she informed Dugan. Dugan, according to Wells, advised her the confrontation was caused "because the matter of a student loan was either going to be discussed or had been discussed with the board, and he's really pissed off at you and at me." However, there is no official indication if the AAANJ Board of Directors addressed the allegation or determined whether Hughes violated company policy.
In May, Wells contended she made a complaint against a co-worker, Jim Pereira. She explained:
Pereira was told through whatever means . . . that they were demoting him and making me the vice-president of marketing and the branches, basically phasing him out as they had done with a few other managers. He became very, very upset about that despite . . . Dugan and myself telling him . . . it's not true. . . . As a result our dynamic shifted considerably. I don't know what happened other than that, but our dynamic shifted considerably, and it became a situation where we just had trouble working together. We were in meetings where [Hughes] had to literally tell him he had to behave professionally towards me because he was very nasty to me. It's documented. It turned into a very nasty situation, because it became the tenured legacy employees versus the new employees, and that was the environment.
After Wells was confronted by Hughes about missing an e-mail, she claimed she was placed under the supervision of Pereira as retaliation for reporting Hughes' co-signing of the student loan. In a June 8 email to Hughes, Wells sought clarification of any changes to her role and the impact on her ability to work from home, which was a condition upon which she accepted employment with the company. That same day, she also complained about the reassignment in an email to Shotmeyer; expressing her concern she would be required to report to Pereira, who is "historically combative and hostile towards" her and is "routinely unprofessional." In an email to Wells the next day, Hughesinformed her there would be no change in her role, but as far as her working remotely, he would need to determine if there was any such agreement with her old supervisors, including Dugan, to work from home, and he would discuss the matter with her when she returned.
Wells never reported to Pereira. On June 10, s...
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