Cintron v. Atticus Bakery, LLC

242 F. Supp. 3d 94, 2017 WL 1024270, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37747
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedMarch 16, 2017
DocketNo. 3:14cv1224 (DJS)
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 242 F. Supp. 3d 94 (Cintron v. Atticus Bakery, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cintron v. Atticus Bakery, LLC, 242 F. Supp. 3d 94, 2017 WL 1024270, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37747 (D. Conn. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

Dominic J. Squatrito, United States District Judge

The plaintiff, Angel Cintron (“Cintron”), brings this civil rights action against the defendant, Atticus Bakery, LLC, d/b/a Chabaso Bakery (“Atticus”), alleging: (1) discrimination on the basis of sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e, eb seq. (“Title VII”) (Count One); (2) hostile work environment in violation of Title VIÍ (Count Two); (3) discrimination on the basis of sex in violation of the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46a-60(a)(l) (“CFEPA”) (Count Three); (4) aiding and abetting discrimination in violation of Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46a-60(a)(5) (Count Four); and (5) invasion of privacy by unreasonable intrusion upon the seclusion of another (Count Five).

[97]*97The defendant has filed a motion for summary judgment on all counts of the plaintiffs complaint pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 56. For the reasons stated herein, the defendant’s motion for summary judgment is granted in part and denied in part.

I. FACTS

Review of both parties’ memoranda, affidavits, declarations, and Local Rule 56(a) statements submitted in support of and in opposition to the motion for summary judgment discloses the following:1

Cintron, a male over the age of 40, began working at Atticus on or about June 17, 1997 and worked there for 15 years until June 30, 2012. Cintron was initially hired as a driver, but at the time his employment at Atticus ended, he held the position of Production Manager. As Production Manager, Cintron supervised approximately sixteen male and female employees. His duties as Production Manager included, but were not limited to, setting up production, confirming the completion of packages, working with outside vendors to schedule deliveries, checking for discrepancies between orders, and assisting managers and supervisors in other departments, if necessary. During the time he held the position of Production Manager, Cintron’s immediate supervisor was initially John Ferreira (“Ferreira”) and then Christopher Pustizzi (“Pustizzi”). All .managers and supervisors at Atticus reported to Charles Negaro Sr. (“Negaro Sr.”), who is the founder of Atticus, and Charles Ne-garo Jr. (“Negaro Jr.”), the Director of Operations/Plant Manager of Atticus. At all times pertinent to this action Negaro Sr. and Negaro Jr. were the only individuals with the power to hire and fire Atticus employees.

During the majority of Cintron’s employment at Atticus, he was happy with his job. Cintron’s last employee evaluation, which took place on January 24, 2012, indicated that he performed his job in a satisfactory and proficient manner. Further, Cintron’s supervisor, Pustizzi, stated that “Mr. Cintron’s job performance was always done in a professional manner.” (Doc. # 33-7, at 3, ¶ 15).

At all times relevant to this action, the Atticus Employee Handbook contained a Non-Harassment policy stating that “[u]n-welcome sexual advances and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature are serious violations of our policy and will not be condoned or permitted.” (Doc. #28-1, at 6). That policy also stated that “[a]ll complaints of sexual harassment will be promptly and confidentially investigated.” (Id.). Cintron was aware of and had read the Non-Harassment policy during the time he was employed at Atticus.

Between April and June 2012 two investigations of alleged inappropriate behavior occurred at Atticus. Cintron was interviewed during the course of both investigations and claims that he endured repeated questioning and harassment from coworkers and management after the first investigation and during the second investigation. Each investigation will be discussed below.

In April 2012 Atticus became aware of the possibility that male supervisors were engaging in sexually harassing behavior toward female employees. Through its attorneys, Atticus engaged Nicholas Daukas (“Daukas”) of the firm KardasLarson LLC, Human Resources Solutions to investigate this matter. Daukas’ investigation consisted of interviewing a number of Atticus employees; including Cintron, [98]*98about possible inappropriate behavior. Cintron is mentioned in Daukas’ investigative report as a supervisor “alleged to have committed inappropriate behavior and/or sexual harassment toward, female employees.” (Doc. # 28-1, at 15). That report goes on to conclude that, “Although the behavior that Cintron was alleged to have committed could not be corroborated, the perception of him by employees is not professional in this regard.” (IcL). The report further concluded that a different supervisor had engaged in sexually harassing behavior toward female employees and Atticus terminated that supervisor’s employment.

Cintron claims that after being interviewed by Daukas in connection with the first investigation, he was constantly questioned and harassed by other employees and management asking if he was the one being accused of sexual harassment and why he was being questioned.2 During the course of the first investigation, one of the Atticus employees interviewed by Daukas indicated that Cintron “is nice to the female employees and brings them beverages on their breaks.” (Id. at 14). Atticus subsequently issued a written warning, to Cintron concerning his practice of buying coffee for some of his coworkers. According to the Atticus Human Resources Manager, Amy Flood (“Flood”), - “[i]t is not appropriate to buy certain people gifts or coffee ... and leave others out, that could be seen as favoritism(Doc. # 33-4, at 118:24-25, 119:1). According to Cintron, •buying coffees for staff was “something that everybody practiced within the management.” (Doc. # 33-2, at 102:10-11), He also testified at his deposition that Flood “had it in for me” ever since he declined her invitation when she first started- at Atticus to serve on her work-related health committee. (Id. at 102:13-16), .

In June 2012, Cintron began to have a personal relationship with Marsabelle Vil-latoro (“Villatoro”), an Atticus employee who was directly supervised by Cintron. Also in June 2012, Flood received a call from Cintron’s wife, Yvette Cintron, informing Flood that Cintron was having a personal relationship with Villatoro.3 In response to this information, Flood once again contacted‘Daukas to conduct an investigation into the relationship between Cintron and Villatoro. Before the second investigation started, no one at Atticus had ever questioned Cintron about his relationship with Villatoro.. Additionally, Villatoro had never indicated to Cintron that his behavior toward her was -unwelcome, and had never complained . to Human Resources Manager Flood about Cintron’s relationship with her.

On June 12, 2012, the day of the second investigation, Daukas interviewed Cintron in Negaro Jr.’s office while- Flood separately questioned Villatoro in a conference room. Daukas asked Cintron if he was having a personal relationship with someone who worked at the bakexy.

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242 F. Supp. 3d 94, 2017 WL 1024270, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37747, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cintron-v-atticus-bakery-llc-ctd-2017.