Powers v. Pinkerton, Inc.

28 F. Supp. 2d 463, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23275, 1997 WL 1051543
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedAugust 11, 1997
Docket1:94 CV 213
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 28 F. Supp. 2d 463 (Powers v. Pinkerton, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Powers v. Pinkerton, Inc., 28 F. Supp. 2d 463, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23275, 1997 WL 1051543 (N.D. Ohio 1997).

Opinion

*465 Memorandum, of Opinion and Order

GAUGHAN, District Judge.

This employment discrimination matter was commenced by plaintiff, James W. Powers, on February 3,1994, against defendants, Pinkerton Incorporated and Bartley Kubisen (hereafter, defendants), with the filing of a Complaint. Plaintiff then filed an Amended Complaint and Substituted Amended Complaint. With leave of Court, plaintiff filed a Second Amended Complaint. 1 This matter is before the Court upon defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 138). For the following reasons, the Motion is GRANTED. Introduction

Generally, this is an employment discrimination case arising out of defendants’ actions allegedly taken in response to plaintiffs report of the sexual harassment of a co-employee. Plaintiffs Second Amended Complaint sets forth eleven causes of action which allege violations of Title 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2 (which makes it an unlawful employment practice to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin); 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3 (which makes it an unlawful employment practice to discriminate against an employee for opposing an unlawful employment practice under Title VII (42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.)); 42 U.S.C § 1981a (which is a provision regarding damages in cases of intentional discrimination); 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq. (the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) which prohibits discrimination on the basis of age) and various doctrines of state law.

Facts

Pinkerton is a company which provides security and investigation services. (pltf.Ex. 12). Plaintiff began his employment with Pinkerton in 1991 in the Banking Division. (pltf.aff.11 4). The Banking Division services automatic teller machines (ATM). (Richard Robinson depo. at 23). Defendant Kubisen also began his employment with Pinkerton in 1991 and was employed as Branch Manager in April, 1993. (Kubisen aff. ¶ 1). Prior to April, 1993, plaintiff was promoted to Banking Captain, (pltf.aff.114). On March 29, 1993, Kubisen placed plaintiff on an extended assignment to complete performance evaluations of the Banking Division employees. (Id., pltf. Exs. 3 and 4).

On April 15, 1993, Jennifer Perelka, an employee of Pinkerton, was sexually harassed by another employee, Sergeant Gary Auerbach, while they were assigned together to perform ATM duties, (pltf. Ex. 9 — handwritten account of Jennifer Perelka. The account reports the date as April 15, 1994, but there is no dispute that the correct date was 1993.). The harassment continued on April 16. (pltf.Ex. 8). Ms. Perelka telephoned plaintiff at his home on April 15 to relate the incident. (Although the deposition testimony plaintiff identifies does not show that the telephone conversation occurred on April 15 at plaintiffs home (pltf.depo.151-152), plaintiffs Motion and reply brief indicate that plaintiff was contacted by Perelka on April 15.)

Plaintiffs answers to interrogatories set forth the following course of events: On the morning of April 16,1993, plaintiff received a page from Ms. Perelka while plaintiff was on his rounds in the company of another employee, Robert Eedy. He returned the page from a pay telephone. Ms. Perelka pretended that plaintiff was her mother. Plaintiff questioned her about whether she was having trouble with whom she was working. She responded that she was having difficulty and that it was serious. Plaintiff told Ms. Perelka that he was on the road and he could not jeopardize Mr. Eedy, but that he would telephone the office and attempt to get someone to help her with her problem. Plaintiff then telephoned the Pinkerton offices and left messages with Mr. Kubisen and Fred Prassack for them to return his call. Thirty minutes later, Ms. Perelka paged plaintiff again. Plaintiff returned her page at his next site at which time Ms. Perelka reiterated her concerns. Plaintiff then telephoned the Pinkerton offices again and spoke with Kristin Miller (a Pinkerton employee). Plaintiff told Ms. Miller that Ms. Perelka had a potential sexual harassment claim against another employee and that it was very important that Kubisen and Prassack return his *466 call. Within the next hour, plaintiff ran into Ms. Perelka and Gary Auerbach at a bank in Cleveland. Ms. Perelka told plaintiff that she needed to get away from Auerbach because she did not know what was going to happen and whether he might hurt her. Plaintiff indicated to her that Kubisen and Prassack had not returned his calls and he could not leave his post, but she should “hang in there” as her shift was almost finished. In the early afternoon, plaintiff received a page from Prassack. Upon speaking to him. Prassack told plaintiff that he should have Ms. Perelka and Auerbach return to Pras-sack’s office immediately. Plaintiff informed Prassack that he had heard on the radio traffic that Perelka and Auerbach were already returning to the office. Perelka and Auerbach returned to the offices before plaintiff and, upon his return, plaintiff learned that Auerbach had been terminated.

Plaintiff then completed a written statement of the incident and gave it to Pinkerton before he left on April 16. (pltf. answers to interrogatories, Nos. 4 and 5). Plaintiff did not retain a copy of this report and he testified at deposition that he left the report on Kubisen’s desk, (pltf.depo.146). No copy of the report has been found by defendant. Kubisen testified that he could not recall a report of the incident prepared by plaintiff. (Kubisen depo. at 352), Defendants state that the only written record of the events is a May 19, 1993 letter written by plaintiff to Regional Vice President, Richard Robinson. (deft.Ex. 8). However, this letter is predominantly a complaint related to plaintiffs demotion.

It is undisputed that Auerbach was terminated by Kubisen on April 16, 1993. (April 16,1993 memo signed by Prassack and Kubi-sen). On that day, Ms. Perelka informed Prassack, the District Manager, and Kubisen that she had been sexually harassed by Auer-bach. (Id.). Prassack and Kubisen confronted Auerback who admitted certain comments. (Id.). Auerbach was terminated for violation of Pinkerton’s sexual harassment policy as stated in its manual. (Id.).

Kubisen avers that he became aware on April 19, 1993, that plaintiff failed to report Perelka’s harassment complaint to the “chain of command” at Pinkerton in a timely manner. (Kubisen aff. ¶ 2). On that date, Kubi-sen became aware that plaintiff first learned of the complaint on April 15, 1993. Kubisen learned this from John Buettner who informed Kubisen that he was present when Perelka called plaintiff to inform him of the harassment. (Id. ¶ 3). (See also the written statement prepared by Buettner dated April 19, 1993 wherein he states that he was present when Perelka talked with plaintiff on the phone on April 15. (deft.Ex. 2)).

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Bluebook (online)
28 F. Supp. 2d 463, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23275, 1997 WL 1051543, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/powers-v-pinkerton-inc-ohnd-1997.