Wright v. Kent Cnty. Dep't of Soc. Servs.

• Decision Date: 24 January 2014
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. ELH-12-3593
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland
• Parties: DAWN M. WRIGHT, Plaintiff, v. KENT COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, et al., Defendants.

DAWN M. WRIGHT, Plaintiff, v. KENT COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. ELH-12-3593

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

Date: January 24, 2014

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Plaintiff Dawn Wright filed suit against her employer, the Kent County Department of Social Services ("DSS"), as well as two individuals, Kerry Ahern-Brown, Director of DSS, and Stephen Sturgill, Assistant Director of DSS (collectively, the "individual defendants"),¹ alleging employment discrimination.² In particular, the Amended Complaint (ECF 8) contains seven counts: (1) employment discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq., as amended ("Title VII") (against DSS); (2) racial discrimination in contract, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (against all defendants); (3) retaliation under Title VII (against DSS); (4) retaliation under the Family and Medical Leave Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601 et seq. (against the individual defendants); (5) violation of various federal constitutional and statutory rights, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (against the individual defendants); (6) violation ofvarious federal constitutional and statutory rights, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (against DSS); and (7) conspiracy to deprive plaintiff of federal rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3) (against the individual defendants). Wright demands $300,000 in compensatory damages from the defendants, with interest, costs, and legal fees. Amended Complaint ("Am. Compl.") ¶¶ 50, 83. As to Sturgill and Ahern-Brown, plaintiff also demands $1,000,000 in punitive damages. Id. ¶ 83.

Defendants have filed a pre-discovery motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, motion for summary judgment (ECF 14, the "Motion"), which plaintiff opposes (ECF 17). The Motion has been fully briefed,³ and no hearing is necessary to resolve it. See Local Rule 105.6. For the reasons that follow, I will grant the Motion in part and deny it in part.

Background

A. Factual Background⁴

Wright, an African-American female, has been employed by DSS since 1993 and currently holds the position of Supervisor - Work Opportunities. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 3, 7. On or about May 14, 2008, Wright received her mid-cycle evaluation, in which she received an overall rating of "Exceeds Standards." Id. ¶ 8. Sturgill completed the May 2008 evaluation, which was approved by Ahern-Brown. Id. On or about November 25, 2008, Wright received her end-cycle evaluation, also completed by Sturgill, and again received an overall rating of "Exceeds Standards." Id. ¶ 10. However, Ahern-Brown "refused to sign/approve Wright's November2008 evaluation because she did not agree with it." Id. ¶ 11. Although "Wright was never told why Ahern-Brown refused to sign it," the evaluation was forwarded to DSS's Department of Human Resources. Id.

From approximately December 5, 2008, until February 17, 2009, Wright took a medical leave of absence from DSS due to a work-related injury. Id. ¶ 12. The parties disagree as to whether Wright was on leave pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601 et seq., during that time. Compare Opp. at 16-17 (stating that Wright was on workers' compensation leave between December 2008 and February 2009 and only took FMLA leave in November 2009) with Def. Mem. at 24 (stating that Wright was on FMLA leave between December 2008 and February 2009). According to Wright, upon returning to work in February 2009, her superiors did not meet with her to familiarize her with events that had occurred during her leave of absence, nor was she informed of any changes to the DSS hierarchy or to the DSS Standard Operating Procedures ("SOPs"). Am. Compl. ¶ 13.

The Amended Complaint further asserts that, upon returning, Wright observed "changes in the behavior and attitude of several white subordinates," including Kara Morris, Beth Collins, and Gene Powers. Id. According to Wright, those three employees all reported to African-American supervisors: either Wright or Sandra Crawford. In particular, Wright alleges that "there appeared to be a communication breakdown with openly offensive, hostile, and threatening behavior by the white subordinates against their African-American supervisors," which included, among other things: (a) Morris and Collins reporting not to Wright and Crawford, but instead reporting directly to Sturgill, the Caucasian supervisor of Wright and Crawford; (b) Morris and Collins assuming "a more authoritative and supervisory role within thedivision"; and (c) statements made to Wright by Morris and Collins that were "humiliating, embarrassing, and demeaning," indicating that "they were taking over Wright's and Crawford's supervisory positions." Id. ¶ 15.

On or about March 5, 2009, Wright sent an email to Sturgill in an attempt to address her concerns about Morris, Collins, and Powers, but Sturgill did not respond. Id. ¶ 16. Nevertheless, Wright says that on March 16, 2009, she received an email from Sturgill indicating that he had designated Powers as the "unit triage person." Id. ¶ 16. In light of her March 5 email, Wright asserts, the decision to grant additional responsibilities to Powers subjected her "to additional humiliating, embarrassing, demeaning, and discriminatory treatment in front of other employees whom Wright supervised and/or worked with at the DSS." Id. ¶ 17. Powers, however, allegedly refused to perform the duties as the unit triage person as outlined in the SOPs and, when confronted by Wright, denied that the tasks were his responsibility. Id. ¶ 18. Further, Powers allegedly went to a Caucasian supervisor, Lisa Falls, who assigned those tasks to another employee. Id. Wright claims that when she reported these events regarding Powers to Sturgill on or about March 19, 2009, he declined to address the matter with either Powers or Wright. Id. ¶ 19. Sturgill's actions, Wright says, amounted to tacit approval of Powers's discriminatory attitude toward Wright. Id. ¶ 20.

According to Wright, on or about March 20, 2009, Powers entered Wright's office, was "openly hostile," and "made threatening move towards Plaintiff[']s face." Id. ¶ 21.⁵ Wright reported this incident to Sturgill via email, but claims that he refused to address it. Id.Additionally, on or about March 25, 2009, Wright "tried to address the hostility and threats made by Powers with Ahern-Brown," but "received no response to the specific disciplinary situation with Powers." Id. ¶ 22.

Wright met with Sturgill and Ahern-Brown on or about March 31, 2009, and "expressed her concerns about the lack of communication, disrespect, and openly hostile and threatening behavior from Sturgill, Morris, Collins, and Powers." Id. ¶ 23. Among other things, she complained about (a) the lack of an update about "any changes that had taken place while she was absent from work on medical leave"; (b) the lack of response from Sturgill to her emails concerning Powers; (c) Morris and Collins being "allowed to go against the chain of command" and not being "held accountable for their failure to follow the SOPs"; and (d) Morris and Collins' statements that "that they were going to be taking over the positions held by Wright and Crawford." Id. According to Wright, Sturgill and Ahern-Brown's "only substantive response" was to offer Wright a newly created position at DSS, which Wright refused. See id. ¶ 24.

Immediately thereafter, Ahern-Brown "instructed Sturgill to document everything that Wright did from that point forward," and "told Wright that if Ahern-Brown continued to get complaints about Wright, Ahern-Brown would either (1) reprimand and/or terminate Wright's employment or, alternatively, (2) Wright would have to accept the transfer to the newly created position." Id. ¶ 25. Wright asserts that she advised Ahern-Brown that she "was well aware that Sturgill and Ahern-Brown were trying to remove Wright and Crawford from their positions," in order to allow their positions to be given instead "to Caucasians (Morris and Collins)." Id. ¶ 26.

In April 2009, Wright received multiple emails from Sturgill, urging her to accept the newly created position. Id. ¶ 27. Subsequently, Wright was "subjected to more humiliating,embarrassing, and offensive treatment at the DSS," including, among other things, having her own subordinates "openly encouraged to go directly to Sturgill for everything they needed," and having Sturgill overlook purported misconduct and errors by Morris, Collins, and Powers that Wright had reported to him. Id. ¶ 28.

At Wright's request, she met again with Sturgill and Ahern-Brown on or about May 28, 2009, to discuss her concerns about Morris's performance. Id. ¶ 29. Instead, Sturgill and Ahern-Brown used the meeting as an opportunity to encourage Wright to resign or take another position, which Wright again declined. Id. ¶ 30. According to Wright, once it became clear that she would neither resign nor accept another position, Sturgill and Ahern-Brown would not support Wright regarding the purported disciplinary issues involving other DSS employees, including Morris, Collins, and Powers. Id. ¶ 31.

Wright received a mid-cycle evaluation around July 2009, in which she received a "Needs Improvement" rating and therefore was placed on a performance improvement plan. Id. ¶ 32. According to Wright, Sturgill indicated that the mid-cycle evaluation was based not upon his own observations, but rather upon information from Morris and Collins. Id. ¶ 33.

On or about November 11, 2009, Wright took a leave of absence from DSS. Id. ¶ 35. As with her prior leave of absence, the parties disagree as to whether Wright was on leave pursuant to the FMLA during that time. Compare Am. Compl. ¶¶ 35-38 and Opp. at 16-17 (stating that Wright took FMLA leave beginning in November 2009) with Def. Mem. at 24 (stating that Wright had exhausted her FMLA leave earlier in the year and thus "was not entitled to FMLA leave when she took leave again on November 11, 2009").

According to Wright, her physician...