Smith v. Koch Meat Co., Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedApril 7, 2025
Docket1:24-cv-00545
StatusUnknown

This text of Smith v. Koch Meat Co., Inc. (Smith v. Koch Meat Co., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Koch Meat Co., Inc., (S.D. Ohio 2025).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO WESTERN DIVISION

EBONY SMITH, et al.,

Plaintiffs, Case No. 1:24-cv-545 v. JUDGE DOUGLAS R. COLE KOCH MEAT CO., INC., et al.,

Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER Defendants Koch Meat Co., Inc., and Koch Foods of Cincinnati, LLC (collectively Koch), move to dismiss Plaintiffs Ebony and Chris Smiths’ retaliation claims. For the reasons explained below, the Court DENIES Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Counts VI, VII, and VIII of Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint (Doc. 13). BACKGROUND1 Ebony Smith,2 an African American woman, began working for Koch’s Fairfield Ohio Production Facility (Fairfield Facility) as an occupational nurse in January 2023. (Am. Compl., Doc. 12, #142, 144). According to Ebony, ever since she began there, her time at Koch has been marred by unlawful discrimination, harassment, and retaliation based on both race and sex.

1 Because this matter comes before the Court on a motion to dismiss, the Court accepts the well-pleaded allegations in the Amended Complaint as true. Bassett v. Nat’l Collegiate Athletic Ass’n, 528 F.3d 426, 430 (6th Cir. 2008). But in reporting the background here based on those allegations, the Court reminds the reader that they are just that—allegations. 2 Because Ebony and Chris Smith share the same last name, the Court will refer to each by their first name to avoid confusion. Start with the allegations surrounding her supervisor, Valerie Hines— Fairfield Facility’s Employee Safety and Health Manager. (Id. at #144). Soon after Ebony started working at Koch, Hines allegedly warned Ebony that Ebony “should

never talk to” Human Resources Manager Wrai Fite and Employee Relations Manager Angel Sandfoss because “doing so ‘only ends with trouble.’” (Id.). Hines then made various racist comments to Ebony. (Id.). Ebony recalls Hines stating that Koch’s “African employees … were ‘entitled and lazy,’” that they don’t know how to clean “because they [are] used to living on dirt floors,” and that, in reference to Ebony’s hairstyle, “[y]ou Black girls are always doing something with your head[s].” (Id. at #144–45).

Upset by Hines’s comments but reluctant to go to Human Resources (HR) given Hines’s prior warning, Ebony discussed Hines’s conduct with Delores McQueen, another African American nurse at Koch. (Id. at #145). McQueen, who had apparently endured similar commentary from Hines, relayed Ebony’s concerns to Sandfoss, which prompted Sandfoss to meet with Ebony. (Id.). At that meeting, Sandfoss assured Ebony that she would report Ebony’s complaints about Hines to the Fairfield

Facility’s General Manager, Brian Reisen. (Id.). But that meeting was useless—at least according to Ebony. Rather than confronting Hines about her behavior, Sandfoss told Ebony that “Hines was well known for making bigoted comments, and that everyone in management knew about it.” (Id.). And since Hines was apparently set to retire in April 2024 (which was then fourteen months away), Sandfoss instructed Ebony to simply “hang in there” and “ride it out” until Hines’s retirement. (Id.). Sandfoss further conveyed that she had informed Hines of Ebony’s complaints about Hines’s racist comments. (Id. at #145– 46). Nevertheless, in the months following Ebony’s meeting with Sandfoss, Hines

allegedly continued to make racist statements to Ebony. (Id. at #146). Hines, however, wasn’t the only (alleged) bad actor at the Fairfield Facility. So too was Marque Haynes, one of the Plant Managers, who Ebony alleges is a “convicted felon and registered sexual predator.” (Id.). One time, in February 2023, Ebony informed Haynes that he had been selected to take a random drug test. (Id.). After he insisted that he did not need to take it, Ebony contacted Hines to confirm that was true. (Id.). Hines then told Haynes what Ebony had asked. (Id. at #146–47). That

apparently angered Haynes. He “stormed” into Ebony’s office, “erupted into a profanity-laced tirade,” and moved increasingly closer to Ebony until he stood over her yelling. (Id. at #147). Another employee had to come usher Haynes out of the office. (Id.). Later, in April 2023, Ebony had another run-in with Haynes. When Ebony tried to send a sick maintenance employee home, Haynes told the employee to go back

to work or “get suspended.” (Id.). Displeased that Haynes had prevented her from protecting the Koch employee’s health, Ebony called Hines and requested that Haynes not be present when she treated or evaluated employees. (Id. at #147–48). When Hines returned Ebony’s call, Haynes was also on the line. (Id. at #148). Haynes screamed at Ebony for trying to “tell [him] what to do.” (Id.). Hines said nothing. (Id.). Soon after those verbal altercations, Haynes allegedly began to sexually harass Ebony. (Id.). At first, Haynes would visit Ebony’s office and make sexually suggestive and vulgar comments to her, in addition to making sexual gestures. (Id.). Eventually,

though, he physically assaulted her. Ebony reports that on multiple occasions, Haynes groped her buttocks and breasts, put his hand between her legs, and attempted to place her hands on his body. (Id. at #149). She alleges that at least one time, Haynes entered the nurse’s office, locking the door behind him, pinned Ebony’s body down, and “forcefully kissed her on the mouth.” (Id.). On a separate occasion, Ebony says Haynes assaulted her while she was helping another employee. (Id. at #150). While the employee wasn’t looking, Haynes apparently stood behind Ebony

and forced his hand between her legs. (Id.). And on yet another day, Haynes lured Ebony into an elevator by claiming he needed help with an injured employee, and after acknowledging there were “no cameras,” proceeded to kiss and grope her. (Id.). Each time Haynes harassed Ebony, she would tell him to “go away” or ignore him, and when he physically assaulted her, she would struggle to push him away and break free from his grasp. (Id. at #148–50).

In June or July of 2023, Ebony transferred to a different shift at the newly opened Fairfield Facility Plant B. (Id. at #151). She believed that moving from Plant A (where she had been working) to Plant B would protect her from Haynes’s advances. (Id.). But, per Ebony’s telling, it did not. Before Ebony officially transferred, Haynes told her she “could not leave,” picked her up, and again forcefully tried to kiss her and put her hand into his pants. (Id.). And even after Ebony transferred to Plant B, Haynes would show up at her new shift and engage in the same sort of conduct he had undertaken when she worked at Plant A. (Id. at #151–52). Ebony therefore started locking herself in the nurse’s office, putting the “out to lunch” sign in the

window, closing the blinds, and turning out the lights whenever she suspected Haynes was at Plant B. (Id. at #152). But apparently even that didn’t stop Haynes. He used his all-access badge to swipe into the nurse’s office, where he found Ebony. (Id.). So Ebony resorted to asking other employees to sit with her in the nurse’s office on days she knew Haynes would be in Plant B. (Id.). Eventually, Koch fired Haynes. (Id.). But according to Ebony, Koch never addressed his practice of harassing her and other female employees. (Id. at #153).

Rather, Koch fired Haynes for time theft. (Id. at #152). Even so, after Haynes’s termination, HR asked Ebony for a statement about the harassment she endured. (Id. at #153). Ebony says that Koch initiated that investigation merely to oppose Haynes’s claim for unemployment benefits, not to properly address the “appalling sexual harassment” that occurred. (Id.). Apparently displeased with Koch’s handling of Haynes’s conduct and Koch’s

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