Adkins v. Atria Senior Living, Inc.

113 F. Supp. 3d 399, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85392, 99 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,352, 2015 WL 4041727
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maine
DecidedJuly 1, 2015
DocketNo. 2:14-cv-00186-JAW
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 113 F. Supp. 3d 399 (Adkins v. Atria Senior Living, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adkins v. Atria Senior Living, Inc., 113 F. Supp. 3d 399, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85392, 99 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,352, 2015 WL 4041727 (D. Me. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS

JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., District Judge.

Kimberly Adkins was employed by Atria Senior Living (Atria) from April 2011 until she was terminated in March 2012, In this action, Ms. Adkins asserts gender discrimination in violation of the Maine Human Rights Act and Title -VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, retaliation in violation of the Maine Human Rights Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and slander per se. Before the Court is Atria’s Motion to Dismiss. After'dismissing those counts Ms. Adkins concedes must be dismissed, the Court grants in part and denies in part Atria’s motion.

I, BACKGROUND

A. Procedural History'

. On April- 30, 2014, Kimberly Adkins filed a Complaint in this Court, containing two counts: (1) sex-based discrimination under the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA), and (2) retaliation under the Maine Human Rights Act. Pl.’s Compl for Hostile Work Environment and Retaliation (ECF No. 1). On June 23, 2014, Ms. Adkins filed an Amended Complaint, containing five counts, including the two original counts and adding (3) discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), (4) retaliation under Title VII, and (5) per se slander. Pl.’s Am. Compl. for Discrimination and Retaliation (ECF No. 4). On July 11, 2014, Ms. Adkins filed a Second Amended Complaint. PI. ’s Second Am. Compl. for Discrimination and Retaliation (ECF No. 7) (Am. Compl.).

On September 30, 2014, Atria Senior Living, Inc. filed a motion to dismiss. Mot. of Def. Atria Senior Living, Inc. to Dismiss Pl.’s Second Am. Compl. (ECF No. 13) (Def.’s Mot.). Ms. Adkins responded on October 21, 2014. Pl.’s Mem. of Law In Opp’n to Def’s Mot. to Dismiss (ECF No. 14) (Pl.’s Opp’n). Atria replied on November 4, 2014. Def.’s Atria Senior Living Inc.’s Reply to Pl.’s Opp’n to Mot. [402]*402to Dismiss Second Am. Compl. (ECF No. IS) (Def.’s Reply).

On April 28, 2015, having reviewed the parties’ filings, the Court issued an Order requiring the parties to file supplemental memoranda on the statute of limitations issues and ordered oral argument. Order on Oral Argument (ECF No. 16). On June 1, 2015, Ms. Adkins filed her supplemental memorandum, Pl. ’s Seriatim Briefing (ECF No. 18) (Pl.’s Supp. Mem.); on June 8, 2015, Atria responded. Def. Atria Senior Living, Inc.’s Seriatim Br. (ECF No. 19) (Def.’s Supp. Mem.).

On June 15, 2015, the Court held an oral argument in which both parties participated. Minute Entry (ECF No. 20). On June 19, 2015, Ms. Adkins filed a second supplemental memorandum. Pl.’s Supplemental Mem. of Law in Opp’n to Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss (ECF No. 21) (Pl.’s Second Supp. Mem.). On June 26, 2015, Atria filed its response. Def. Atria Senior Living, Inc.’s Resp. to Pl.’s Supplemental Mem. of Law in Opp’n to Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss (ECF No. 22) (Def.’s Supp. Resp.).

B. Dismissed Count

In her second supplemental memorandum, Ms. Adkins withdrew her opposition to Atria’s motion to dismiss and conceded the dismissal of Count V, the slander per se claim. Pl.’s Second Supplemental Mem. at 2. In its supplemental response, Atria urged the Court to dismiss Count V. Def.’s Supp. Resp. at 2. As Ms. Adkins did not object to the dismissal of Count V, the Court dismisses that count.

II. THE ALLEGATIONS AND THEORIES OF ACTION IN THE COMPLAINT

A. The Factual Allegations

The Court accepts the following facts from the Second Amended Complaint as true for the purposes of this Order:

Beginning in April 2011, Ms. Adkins, a resident of Lebanon,'Maine, was a director of culinary services at Atria, an out-of-state corporation that provides assisted living to seniors. Am.- Compl. ¶¶2, 3, 7.

Ms. Adkins is a lesbian, which her supervisor Jan Peterson discovered a few months after Ms. Adkins stated working at Atria. Id. ¶¶8, 9. After Ms. Adkins discovered that coworkers were circulating rumors about her sexual orientation and that of another coworker of hers, she and the coworker informed Ms. Peterson of the rumors. Id. ¶¶ 11-12. Ms. Peterson said the situation would be addressed, but it was not. Id. ¶ 12. Ms. Adkins and the coworker were told not to have lunch together, were excluded from a team photograph, and were told that they could not stand next to each other in the holiday picture. Id. ¶¶ 13-15. Additionally, Ms. Peterson required more hours from Ms. Adkins and changed her role “from an administrative position to a more physically demanding role” despite knowing that Ms. Adkins had abad ankle. Id. ¶¶ 16-17. Ms. Peterson told Ms. Adkins she could not schedule an assistant to help her with catering certain events, even though the former director of culinary services, a male, always had an assistant at such events. Id. ¶ 18.

Ms. Adkins also had issues with a male subordináte coworker. The coworker spoke of her sexual orientation in a derogatory manner, resisted her instructions, was “aggressive toward her”, and called her at. home while drunk. Id. ¶ 19. Ms. Peterson told Ms. Adkins that without witness statements “it was her word against his.” Id. Ms. Adkins wrote a statement and gave it to Ms. Peterson.to give to human resources. Id. Ms. Peterson initially did not submit the statement to HR and only [403]*403did so when Ms. Adkins followed up and insisted. Id. ■■

In November 2011, the same male coworker “aggressively yelled” at Ms. Adkins in front of other eoworkers after she asked him to turn down the radio. Id. ¶ 20. He “began to yell and hit the pots and pans to make noise.” Id. Ms. Adkins reported the incident to Ms. Peterson, who “did not want to hear about it” and told Ms. Adkins to submit another statement, which she did. Id. When Ms. Adkins submitted- the statement supported by a witness statement, Ms. Peterson “became angry” with Ms. Adkins for requesting a statement from the witness. Id. Ms. Adkins reminded Ms. Peterson that she had told her that without a witness-statement, nothing could be done about an incident; Ms. Peterson became more annoyed. Id.

Ms. Peterson also did not' allow Ms. Adkins to reprimand the coworker, and told her she had to “play nice in the sandbox.” Id. ¶ 21. When Ms. Adkins applied for an open position elsewhere in the company, Ms. Peterson told her she would not get the job and “might as well forget about it.” Id. ¶ 22.

Throughout her employment at Atria, Ms. Adkins felt there was a lack of diversity awareness and training, wlii'ch she believed “led to discriminatory animus by employees against people of color and gays and lesbians.” Id. ¶23. She reported what she perceived to be dis'criminatory comments both to Ms. Peterson and to human resources. Id. ¶ 24. She also reported to Atria’s national human resources specialist her belief that her manager was discriminating against her based on her sexual orientation, and voiced opposition to the discrimination she experienced and others’ discriminatory animus toward non-Caucasians. Id. ¶ 26,

In November 2011, Ms. Adkins had a conference call with the regional and national human resources representatives regarding. Ms.

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113 F. Supp. 3d 399, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85392, 99 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,352, 2015 WL 4041727, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adkins-v-atria-senior-living-inc-med-2015.