Houck v. City of Prairie Village

977 F. Supp. 1128, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16876, 1997 WL 625184
District Court, D. Kansas·Decided September 23, 1997·No. 95-4067-RDR·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ROGERS, District Judge.

This is an employment discrimination case which is before the court upon motions for summary judgment by defendants City of Prairie Village and Barbara Vernon. For the reasons which follow these motions shall be granted.

UNCONTROVERTED FACTS

Upon review of the pleadings, the following facts appear to be uncontroverted or must be accepted as true when the record is considered in a light most favorable to plaintiff. 1

On May 21,1990, plaintiff was hired by the City of Prairie Village (“the City”) as a Community Service Officer (“CSO”) in its police department. Bill Price was already working as a CSO when plaintiff was hired. CSOs performed animal control, street crossing, and other support duties for the police department. While she was a CSO, plaintiff *1130 orally complained to persons in the police department, including her supervisors, that Bill Price made unwelcome sexual comments. No written complaint was made. The alleged comments were in the nature of a proposition and descriptions of his sexual preferences. No corrective action was taken. Plaintiff signed forms in 1991 and 1992 which stated that she had not been subjected to or observed others suffer sexual harassment. Plaintiff did not take these forms seriously and feared retaliation if she did make a written complaint.

In May 1992, plaintiff was informed that her job as a CSO was going to be eliminated. Bill Price’s job as a CSO was maintained. He had more seniority than plaintiff, although she felt she was more qualified by the end of her CSO tenure.

On July 4, 1992, plaintiff married John Houck, a member of the City’s police department. For several months prior to being married, plaintiff and John Houck lived together. In September 1992, plaintiff was transferred from the police department to the City’s public works department. While working in the public works department, plaintiff performed such tasks as snow removal and road maintenance.

Throughout plaintiffs employment with the City, she wanted to work in the police department as a dispatcher or in another capacity. She made application for a job as a police officer. After she married John Houck, such employment was contrary to the City’s anti-nepotism policy. So, plaintiff was never hired onto the police force.

Defendant Barbara Vernon has been the city administrator of Prairie Village for over 18 years. She was also acting public works department director from late September 1993 to mid-March 1994.

Shortly after plaintiff started in the public works department she was reprimanded by the public works director at the time, Gerald Robnett, concerning the use of sick leave when she was gone from work because of the illness of her sister-in-law. Plaintiff complained that her husband in the police department was not reprimanded for using his sick leave in the same situation. Plaintiff believes that Robnett consulted with Barbara Vernon on this matter and that she allowed the reprimand to happen.

A year after plaintiff started working in the public works department she filed a grievance regarding her seniority within the department. Plaintiff wanted credit for the time she worked in the police department. This would have given her the upper hand over some employees in bidding for a night shift snow removal position or other positions. The grievance was denied by defendant Vernon. Vernon made this decision after talking with people from other public works departments and persons being interviewed for personnel director. Vernon also was concerned with morale within the department and believed that persons with the most experience running the snow plow should be working on a snow removal night shift. Plaintiff had no experience running a snow plow.

Plaintiff was the only full-time female employee doing work on the public works department crews. Plaintiff alleges that when she started male workers whistled at her. One employee, John Waller, grabbed his crotch whenever plaintiff passed. He also used coarse language, referring to plaintiff once as a “laughing bitch” and frequently saying “eat me.” Plaintiff alleged that Waller grabbed at everyone’s butt and referred to everyone as “baby.” 2 She reported her objections to Waller’s behavior several times. However, she only spoke once to Barbara Vernon about John Waller. This was in December 1993.

Waller was reprimanded in June 1994 by Bob Pryzby. This was almost two years after plaintiff started working in the public works department. Pryzby was appointed the director of public works in March 1994. Specifically, Pryzby disciplined Waller after plaintiff complained that Waller grabbed his crotch. Waller received a one-day suspension without pay and was required to seek *1131 counseling. Plaintiff asserts that thereafter Waller retaliated against her. But, her deposition does not specify what the nature of his retaliation was. Plaintiff states that she complained about it to her supervisor at the time (Stan Turowski), but nothing happened. Then, she complained to Bob Pryzby. However, she does not know what happened in response to her complaints.

Plaintiff also complained to Pryzby concerning Playboy magazines or similar periodicals in the trucks of the department. Pryzby quickly directed that all such materials be removed.

Dan Ogle was one of plaintiffs first supervisors. Plaintiff objected to Ogle’s statement in October of 1992 that he and the other employees should stop treating plaintiff as a woman and stop helping plaintiff with things. By April 1993, plaintiff had complained about Dan Ogle several times to Steve Sherman, the assistant public works director. She felt as if Ogle singled her out for criticism in front of coworkers. This criticism concerned tearing out sod while mowing grass. Moreover, he had crew members retrained on mowing. This made plaintiff feel responsible for “punishment” of the entire crew. She also objected that Ogle insisted she take a test on chemicals instead of an equipment operation test that he encouraged other male employees to take. Eventually, Ogle was reprimanded because of plaintiffs complaints. He was also required to take sensitivity training. In addition, plaintiff was transferred by Barbara Vernon to a different crew with a different supervisor in August or September 1993. Plaintiff contends that the reprimand was too gentle and that it was ineffective at stopping harassment.

Plaintiff also appealed an evaluation of her work which Ogle helped complete with another supervisor. Barbara Vernon discussed the evaluation with plaintiff and made some changes as a result of the discussions. The revised evaluation was signed by a supervisor other than Ogle. This was in December 1993. About the same time, defendant Vernon suggested playing videotapes regarding sexual harassment and discrimination for employees in the public works department. Plaintiff asked that this not be done because she was afraid the employees in the department would blame her. Plaintiff explained that she told Barbara Vernon not to do it for plaintiffs benefit, but for her own benefit.

Barbara Vernon did conduct a safety meeting for public works department employees on January 7,1994.

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Houck v. City of Prairie Village, 977 F. Supp. 1128, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16876, 1997 WL 625184 (D. Kan. 1997).

977 F. Supp. 1128 (Houck v. City of Prairie Village) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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