Sonya Bradley v. Steve Arwood

705 F. App'x 411
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedAugust 29, 2017
Docket16-1034
StatusUnpublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 705 F. App'x 411 (Sonya Bradley v. Steve Arwood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sonya Bradley v. Steve Arwood, 705 F. App'x 411 (6th Cir. 2017).

Opinions

BERNICE BOUIE DONALD, Circuit Judge

I.

This appeal arises out of a 42 U.S.C. § 1988 race-based hostile work environment claim brought against current and former employees of the Michigan Department of the Attorney General. The Plaintiff-Appellee, Sonya Bradley, who is African American, initially brought suit against Steve Arwood, William Schuette, Susan Przekop-Shaw, Peter Kotula, and Frank Russell on June 12, 2014, raising claims including the one currently before this Court. On Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, the district court dismissed all of Bradley’s claims except her hostile-work-environment claims against Przekop-Shaw and Kotula. Bradley thereafter filed an amended complaint adding Debbie Taylor as an additional defendant. After discovery, the remaining defendants, including Przekop-Shaw, filed a Motion for Summary Judgment. The district court granted the motion with respect to Kotula and Taylor, but denied the motion with respect to Przekop-Shaw, finding that Bradley presented sufficient evidence to raise a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether Przekop-Shaw had created a race-based hostile work environment. Przekop-Shaw interlo-cutorily appeals the district court’s order denying her qualified immunity. For the reasons set forth herein, we affirm..

II.

Viewing' the record evidence in the light most favorable to Bradley, the facts of this case are as follows. As of 2010, Plaintiff Bradley worked as a legal secretary at the Michigan Department of the Attorney General in the unit handling revenue and collections issues in Detroit. (R. 43-2, ID 465). In January 2011, she was hired as a division legal secretary supervisor overseeing the Unemployment Unit of the Attorney General’s office. (R.43-2, 465-66). Bradley technically worked for the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), but was detailed back to the Attorney General’s Detroit office. (Id. at 665-66). Bradley supervised five legal secretaries in the Detroit office, all African-American, and a sixth secretary, who was white, in the Unemployment Unit in the Grand Rapids office. (R. 43-2, ID 466; R. 45-4, ID 666).

In February 2011, Bradley met with her then supervisor, Donna Welch, and Przek-op-Shaw, who was Welch’s supervisor at the time, in order to discuss Bradley’s annual objectives. (R. 45-4, ID 666). During the meeting, Bradley’s first assignment was discussed—converting all of the Detroit office Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) files, several thousand of them, from a manual system to a computerized system. In response to Bradley’s request for additional secretarial staffing to complete the task, Przekop-Shaw suggested bringing on Michael Lockman, a Caucasian male attorney, who had previously worked at the Michigan Attorney General’s office, as had both Bradley and Przekop-Shaw. (R. 46-5 753). Lockman had allegedly racially harassed Bradley in 2010. In fact, Bradley averred in her affidavit that she applied for the position in the Unemployment Unit after Lockman yelled to her “bring your black ass back in here” as she was leaving work one day. (R. [413]*41345-4, ID 665).1 Bradley asserts that Przek-op-Shaw knew of Lockman’s harassment and used the possibility of moving Lock-man into the Unemployment Unit to harass and intimidate her. Bradley alleges that Przekop-Shaw reissued the threat to hire Lockman after Bradley reported to LARA officials in October 2011 that a government-issued credit card assigned to her had been inappropriately used by an employee in the Attorney General’s office. (R. 45-4, ID 666-67).

In June 2012, Przekop-Shaw replaced Welch as Bradley’s direct supervisor. (R. 43-6, ID 511-12). In September, Przekop-Shaw sent an email to human resources official Frank Russell seeking advice on reclassifying Bradley’s position to a lower grade. (R. 45-6, ID 684-85.) It does not appear from the record that any change was made. However, Bradley acknowledges the job posting for the position at issue may have erroneously assigned a higher classification level than the position was actually due. (R. 43-2, ID 466). Erroneously or not, the position conferred a “level 11” classification, the same as Amy Gonea, a Caucasian woman who was the head secretary of the Attorney General’s Labor Division office in Lansing. (Id.; R. 43-6, ID 517; R. 45-7, ID 687). Bradley claims that in spite of their equal classification, Przekop-Shaw treated Gonea more favorably than Bradley, improperly allowing Gonea to supervise Bradley.

This issue came to a head in the wake of a second incident related to Bradley’s government-issued credit card. In November 2012, Gonea asked for Bradley’s card information in order to set the card up for the entire Unemployment Unit to use for e-filing charges and purchases. (R. 45-4, ID 668; R. 45-7, ID 689). Bradley contacted a LARA purchasing manager and the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget, who advised her not to provide the credit card information to Go-nea and instead follow a LARA procurement policy. (R. 45-4, ID 668; R. 45-7, ID 688-89.) This upset Przekop-Shaw, who in a strongly worded email, admonished Bradley that Bradley’s actions were “unacceptable” and accused her of intentionally circumventing and undermining her supervisors in the Attorney General’s office. (R. 45-4, ID 668; R. 45-7, ID 687-88.) Przekop-Shaw forwarded this email to Frank Russell, a human-resources official, who stated that a Formal Counseling Memorandum would have been appropriate in this situation. (R. .45-7, ID 687). But Russell went on to state that he believed that Bradley acted in this manner because she was upset at “having to abide by a peer’s ([Gonea’s]) direction. Regardless of whether she is classified properly or not, ‘currently,’ she is the same level (I think).” (Id.)

According to Bradley, Przekop-Shaw also made her “jump through hoops” to take leave, and would “bombard” her with assignments if she requested time off. (R. 43-2, ID 472; R. 45-4, ID 667.) Bradley testified that, on one occasion, she asked for a day off so that she could take her mother to a medical appointment. (R. 43-2, ID 472, 478.) Przekop-Shaw reluctantly approved the request. (Id. at 472, 478.) Then, despite Bradley’s leave having been scheduled two weeks in advance, Gonea called Bradley at the very end of the workday [414]*414prior to her scheduled day off and ordered her to complete a “whole list” of tasks. (Id. at 478.) Bradley had to stay several hours late to do so. (Id. at 474.) Further, when Bradley was on extended medical leave in 2013, Przekop-Shaw “harassed] [Bradley] via telephone and email requesting [her] to perform [work] duties” from home. (R. 45-4, ID 668-69.) In accordance with medical advice, Bradley refused to do so. (See id. at 669.)

Meanwhile, as early as February 2011, Bradley’s supervisors instituted regular meetings and communications with Bradley related to her performance. (R. 43-6, ID 514-15). Przekop-Shaw states that these were set up to improve Bradley’s performance, which had been noted as problematic since her initial performance evaluation by Welch. (Id.) Bradley asserts that these meetings were attempts to embarrass and ridicule her in front of her colleagues. (Appellee’s Br. at 7.) Bradley also asserts that Przekop-Shaw imposed unreasonable demands and set unrealistic deadlines all while refusing Bradley’s request for additional staffing just to ensure that Bradley would not be successful. (Id.)

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705 F. App'x 411, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sonya-bradley-v-steve-arwood-ca6-2017.