Netherland v. WESCO Distribution, Inc.

CourtSuperior Court of Maine
DecidedJune 5, 2015
DocketCUMcv-14-124
StatusUnpublished

This text of Netherland v. WESCO Distribution, Inc. (Netherland v. WESCO Distribution, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Netherland v. WESCO Distribution, Inc., (Me. Super. Ct. 2015).

Opinion

(

STATE OF MAINE SUPERIOR COURT CUMBERLAND, ss CNILACTION Docket No. CV-14-124 / JUDITH NETHERLAND, STATE OF MAINE Plaintiff Cumberland, ss, Clerk's Office

v. JUN 05 2015 ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S MOTIONFORSUMMARY WESCO DISTRIBUTION, RECE IVE li}JDGMENT INC.,

Defendant

Before the court is defendant's motion for summary judgment. In her

complaint, plaintiff alleges one count of sexual harassment based on a hostile

work environment and one count of retaliation. For the following reasons, the

motion is granted in part and denied in part.

FACTS

The following facts are supported by the summary judgment record and 1 presented in a light most favorable to plaintiff as the non-moving party. Plaintiff

began working for defendant WESCO Distribution, Inc. (WESCO) in 2007 as a

temporary administrative employee. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F.

defendant hired plaintiff directly as an office associate. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F.

Plaintiff initially worked as an administrative assistant to Susan Landon, the

administrative lead. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F.

WESCO's disciplinary policy includes both a Performance Improvement

Plan (PIP) and a Corrective Improvement Plan (CIP). (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F.

1 Many of plaintiff's facts are not supported by record citations. Plaintiff frequently cites to Netherland Dep. Ex. 3, her answers to interrogatories, but that deposition exhibit is not in the summary judgment filings. Accordingly, the court cannot rely on these facts for the purposes of the summary judgment motion. Levine v. R.B.K. Caly Corp., 2001 ME 77, 'li 6, 770 A.2d 653. PIP is related to an employee's objectives, goals, and work performance and is

issued to improve performance. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F. 'li 9.) A CIP is for conduct

that cannot be repeated. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F. 'li 9.)

In May 2010, plaintiff complained to a WESCO Vice President that a

vendor was acting "creepy." (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F. 12.) In response, Ms. Landon

made physical changes to plaintiff's workspace and communicated with the

vendor. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F. 'li 13.) The conduct never happened again. (Def.'s

Supp. S.M.F. 'li 14.)

Plaintiff and her co-worker John McAlevey did not get along. Plaintiff

testified that Mr. McAlevey claimed he did not like her because she had told Ms.

Landon that Mr. McAlevey was smoking at work. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F. 'li 18; Pl.'s

Opp. S.M.F. 'li 18.) In 2011, plaintiff complained to Ms. Landon multiple times

about Mr. McAlevey's behavior. (Pl.'s Add. S.M.F. 'li'li 17, 19-20.) Plaintiff

complained that Mr. McAlevey was loud and in her face, ignored her when she

asked a question, yelled at her, threatened her, and stood uncomfortably close to

her. (Pl.'s Add. S.M.F. 'li'li 3-6, 9, 24; Pl.'s Opp. S.M.F. 'li 23.) Plaintiff also testified

that Mr. McAlevey called her a bitch on multiple occasions and that she

complained about it to her supervisors. (Pl.'s Opp. S.M.F. 'li 26.) Ms. Landon

admitted that plaintiff complained multiple times about Mr. McAlevey's

behavior. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F. 'li 27; Pl.'s Opp. S.M.F. 'li 27.)

In early February 2012, a meeting was held to discuss plaintiff's concerns

with Mr. McAlevey. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F. 'li 19; Pl.'s Opp. S.M.F. 'li 19.) Plaintiff, 2 Mr. McAlevey, Ms. Landon, and Paul Perry, another supervisor, were present at

2 Paul Perry's position at Wesco is not clear from the summary judgment record.

2 the meeting. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F. en 19.) During the meeting, Mr. McAlevey acted

unprofessionally and inappropriately. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F. en 20; Pl.'s Opp. S.M.F.

en 20.) Mr. McAlevey yelled at plaintiff, called her a bitch, made her cry, and then made fun of her for crying. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F. en 21; Pl.'s Add. S.M.F. enen 7-8.)

Mr. McAlevey told plaintiff that he is an angry person and that she would just

have to live with it. (Pl.'s Add. S.M.F. 1 12.) He also referred to plaintiff as

someone who thinks her "shit doesn't stink." (Pl.'s Add. S.M.F. 112; Def.'s Reply

S.M.F. en 12.) Plaintiff told Mr. McAlevey that she was afraid of him and that he

was unprofessional. (Pl.'s Add. S.M.F. en 13.) Plaintiff eventually left the meeting

while Ms. Landon, Mr. Perry, and Mr. McAlevey remained. (Pl.'s Add. S.M.F. 1

14.)

At the meeting, Mr. Perry reprimanded Mr. McAlevey for making fun of

plaintiff. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F.128; Pl.'s Opp. S.M.F.128.) After the meeting, Mr.

McAlevey was issued a CIP on February 17, 2012, but that CIP did not refer to

any misconduct towards plaintiff. (Pl.'s Add. S.M.F. 1 32; Def.'s Supp. S.M.F. 1

34; Pl.'s Opp. S.M.F. 1 34.) In early February 2012, after the meeting, plaintiff

called John Oliverio, HR Director for WESCO, about Mr. McAlevey's behavior at

the meeting. (Pl.'s Add. S.M.F. 128; Def.'s Reply S.M.F. 128; Def.'s Supp. S.M.F.

1 30.) According to Mr. Oliverio, he decided not to connect Mr. McAlevey's

discipline to plaintiff's complaints because it would only foster his resentment

for plaintiff. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F. 11 33-34.) Mr. Oliverio told plaintiff to

continue to come forward if she had any future concerns about Mr. McAlevey.

(Def.'s Supp. S.M.F.135.)

Plaintiff testified that her supervisors failed to correct Mr. McAlevey' s

behavior and that it became worse after the February meeting. (Pl.'s Opp. S.M.F.

3

she asked him a question about a customer. (Pl.'s Add. S.M.F.

continued to complain about Mr. McAlevey until he left WESCO. (Pl.'s Add.

S.M.F.

(Def.'s Supp. S.M.F.

Plaintiff testified that she noticed a change in Ms. Landon's attitude after

the meeting. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F.

45.) Plaintiff was upset that Ms. Landon assigned her menial tasks to perform.

(Def.'s Supp. S.M.F.

Landon made personal attacks by giving her lower grades on work evaluations.

(Def.'s Supp. S.M.F.

meetings to try to improve plaintiff's relationship with Ms. Landon. (Def.'s Supp.

S.M.F.

Plaintiff testified that before 2012 she received only positive performance

reviews. (Pl.'s Opp. S.M.F.

plaintiff about performance issues from the time she started working. (De£.' s

Supp. S.M.F.

In June 2012, a new position was created for plaintiff, which included a

greater marketing role. 3 (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F.

spoke with Ms. Landon about feeling overwhelmed by her marketing duties.

(Def.'s Supp. S.M.F.

outlining a plan for improvement for plaintiff. (Def.'s Supp. S.M.F.

3 Plaintiff's denial of this fact is not supported by the record citation.

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