Frey v. Coleman

141 F. Supp. 3d 873, 2015 WL 5921580, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 138015
District Court, N.D. Illinois·Decided October 9, 2015·No. No. 12 CV 06284·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

John J. Tharp, Jr., United States District Judge

The plaintiff, Bogustawa Frey, brings claims against her former employer, Hotel Coleman (“HC”), and its independently-hired management company, Vaughn Hospitality (“VH”), under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. (“Title VII”) and the Illinois Human Rights Act, 775 ILCS 5/7A-102(C)(4) (“IHRA”) for sexual harassment, creation of a htisiile work environment, pregnancy discrimination, and retaliatory discharge for filing a charge with Illinois Department of Human Rights (IHR) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The defendants are unrelated LLCs, each incorporated in the state of Illinois. Frey now brings this uncontested summary judgment against HC.1 For the following reasons, Frey’s motion is granted in full.

[878] BACKGROUND2

Defendant HC was the corporate owner of the Holiday Inn Express located in Algonquin, Illinois. HC, however, was not involved in the daily operations of the hotel. Instead, the company hired defendant VH as independent manager responsible for the day-to-day operations of the building. As the sole owner of VH, Michael Vaughn acted as the hotel’s general manager and was responsible for managing, hiring, and terminating employees. PSOF ¶ 4.

In August 2008, Frey was hired by HC as a guest services representative for its Algonquin location. PSOF ¶ 5. Frey alleges that shortly after she started working there, Vaughn began to make unwanted sexual advances towards her. PSOF ¶ 6. She contends these advances included telling her that he could have any woman he wanted; that she should put a penny in a jar every time she had sex with her husband; asking if he could touch her stomach; inviting her to a hotel room; telling her he wanted to have phone sex with her; telling her she had a sexy body; and telling her that it was a waste that she was pregnant, among 'other things. PSOF ¶ 7. Frey objected to these comments and— following HC’s sexual harassment policy— she complained about Vaughn’s conduct to the housekeeping manager. PSOF ¶ 9. But when the housekeeping manager spoke to Vaughn about Frey’s complaints, Vaughn allegedly laughed them off and the harassment continued. Id.

In June of 2009, Frey informed Vaughn that she was expecting a child. PSOF ¶ 13. According to Frey, her work environment then began to change. PSOF ¶.14. She had her hours cut as new staff was being hired. Id. She was not given a position as Executive Sales Manager, which Vaughn had allegedly promised her. Id. She was moved from day shift to night shift, but did not receive the pay raise that was normally associated with that position. Id. Frey began to complain about pain associated with her pregnancy, including swollen ankles and back pain, and requested accommodation. Id. But, according to her, those complaints were disregarded and she was asked to stand for long periods of time and to perform manual labor. Id.

Sometime in the spring of 2010, Frey went on maternity leave. While she was on leave, Frey filed a discrimination claim with the EEOC and the IHR. PSOF ¶ 18. Frey returned from maternity leave on April 12, 2010, but one week later Vaughn fired her for allegedly stealing another employee’s cell phone. PSOF ¶ 20. HC now admits that it in fact had no evidence that Frey had stolen the cell phone and had no basis for firing Frey. PSOF ¶22. Frey then brought this civil complaint alleging, among other things, that the theft allegation was fabricated by the defendants, and that she was in fact terminated in retaliation for filing her EEOC complaint, Frey now moves for summary judgment on all her claims against HC, which has not filed a response.3

[879] DISCUSSION4

Summary judgment is only appropriate when there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). In deciding Frey’s motion for summary judgment, the Court must construe all facts and inferences in favor of the nonmoving party. Love v. JP Cullen & Sons, Inc., 779 F.3d 697, 701 (7th Cir.2015). If the moving party has demonstrated the absence of a disputed material fact, then the burden shifts to the nonmov-ing party to “provide evidence of specific facts creating a genuine dispute.” Carroll v. Lynch, 698 F.3d 561, 564 (7th Cir.2012). Based on the undisputed facts in the record, and because HC has made a number of fatal admissions during discovery, Frey has shown that there are no disputed material facts with respect to her claims. Because HC has failed to respond and provide evidence of specific facts that illustrate such a dispute, Frey’s motion for summary judgment is granted in its entirety.

A. Sexual Harassment5

Frey contends that HC subjected her to a sexually hostile and abusive work environment, which was created by Vaughn’s unwanted sexual advances. Under Title VII, in order to prevail on her claim • that Vaughn’s’ sexual harassment created a hostile work environment Frey she must show that: “(1) she was subjected to unwelcome sexual harassment; (2) the harassment was based on sex; (3) the harassment unreasonably interfered with her work performance by creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment that seriously affected her psychological well-being; and (4) there is a basis for employer liability.” Moser v. Indiana Dept. of Corrections, 406 F.3d 895, 902 (7th Cir.2005). The requirements to make out a sexual harassment claim under the' IHRA are substantially the same. See Sangamon County Sheriffs Dept. v. Illinois Human Rights Comm’n, 233 Ill.2d 125, 330 Ill.Dec. 187, 908 N.E.2d 39, 46 (2009) (court noting that to make out a claim under the IHRA that sexual [880] harassment created a hostile work environment, the plaintiff must show there were “unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors or any conduct of a sexual nature, which has the purpose or effect of substantially, interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment.”).

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Frey v. Coleman, 141 F. Supp. 3d 873, 2015 WL 5921580, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 138015 (N.D. Ill. 2015).

141 F. Supp. 3d 873 (Frey v. Coleman) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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