Steele v. City of Topeka

189 F. Supp. 3d 1152, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65546, 2016 WL 2894586
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedMay 18, 2016
DocketCase No. 14-2094-EFM
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 189 F. Supp. 3d 1152 (Steele v. City of Topeka) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Steele v. City of Topeka, 189 F. Supp. 3d 1152, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65546, 2016 WL 2894586 (D. Kan. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ERIC F. MELGREN, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Plaintiff Exzetta Steele’s race and gender made her unlike any other manager in Defendant City of Topeka’s Street Maintenance and Traffic Operations Division (“Division”). No other Division manager was African-American. No other Division manager was a woman. And, according to Steele, she suffered because of these differences. Once she had suffered enough, she left the Division for other work with the City. Then she sued the City. Did Steele suffer the kind and degree of workplace discomfort necessary under Title VII to hold the City liable for her departure [1155]*1155from the Division? The outcome of the City’s present summary judgment motion depends on whether evidence tends to support Steele’s claims that disparate treatment and a hostile work environment forced her to quit. Because no evidence could show a legally intolerably workplace, the Court grants summary judgment on Steele’s claims against the City.

I. Factual and Procedural Background1

Before becoming the only African-American and woman manager in the Division, Steele performed nearly ten years of office and accounting work for the City. On November 29, 2010, Steele left her accounting specialist position in the City’s Fire Department to join Joe Brooks as one of the Division’s two Maintenance Managers. As Maintenance Managers, Steele and Brooks assigned and oversaw the completion of street maintenance projects (e.g. filling potholes, grading alleyways, installing curbs, sweeping streets, and snow and ice removal). Above Steele and Brooks in the Division’s managerial hierarchy, the City employed James Lopez and Ron Raines. Lopez supervised the Maintenance Managers’ work. Raines supervised the entire Division. Among these non-African-American men, Steele worked without performance-based criticism for five months. But in late April 2011, Steele quit her higher-salary, managerial position in the Division to return to her lower-salary, non-supervisory accounting work in the City’s Fire Department. So what happened?

An ultimately unbearable pattern of unfavorable, and allegedly unlawful, workplace interactions happened, according to Steele. The parties reconstruct that alleged pattern from the following uncontro-verted circumstances — introductorily characterized in italics.

.Training. Steele joined the Division two weeks after Brooks, her Maintenance Manager counterpart. Brooks received roughly two weeks of training from Division coworker Terry Tillman. Before the Division employed Brooks and Steele, Tillman handled the Maintenance Managers’ responsibilities. Raines denies specifically assigning Tillman Maintenance Manager training responsibilities. Nevertheless, Tillman trained Brooks on and off job sites. Tillman familiarized Brooks with various equipment and machines; surveying work sites; classifying and prioritizing street defects; preparing and processing work orders; and using City Works, the City’s computerized work assignment process and recording system. But Tillman’s training efforts interfered with his own work. Two weeks into training Brooks and when Steele reported for work at the Division, Tillman discontinued formal Maintenance Manager training. Tillman believes that Raines ordered him to return to his normal job functions and expected Brooks to accustom Steele with her Maintenance Manager duties. Raines recalls that when Steele began, he encouraged all Division employees to help Steele learn her responsibilities; specifically, however, he privately imagined that Brooks would train Steele. Brooks denies receiving specific orders to train Steele. Yet during Steele’s first month in the Division, Brooks worked closely with Steele to perform the Maintenance Managers’ responsibilities as . a team. Primarily assisted by Brooks, Steele learned the same skills that Tillman covered with Brooks. And despite ending for[1156]*1156mal training, Tillman continued to provide informal “sidebar training” — meaning that Tillman provided job-related advice concerning particular tasks on Brooks’ or Steele’s ad hoc request. Ultimately, both Brooks and Steele considered their respective training insufficient, leaving them to “sink or swim” on the job.

Snow Removal Shift Assignment The Division’s snow removal season coincided with Steele’s arrival. Typically, all Division employees worked from 7:00 am to 3:30 pm. During snow removal operations, however, Steele and Brooks alternatively worked 12-hour shifts. Consulting Raines but not Steele, Brooks worked out the Maintenance Managers’ snow-event shift assignments. Steele worked the 7:00 am to 7:00 pm day shift — a shift that Brooks thought better-suited for Steele because, unlike him, she had a child living at home. Brooks worked the 7:00 pm to 7:00 am night shift. And Raines usually worked snow removal operations during the night shift.

Snow-Event Notice. As the Maintenance Managers’ direct supervisor, Lopez sometimes notified Steele and Brooks of the need to report for snow removal operations. And for communications generally, Lopez communicated with Steele and Brooks through text messages or emails. Many Division employees, however, acknowledged that phone notification constituted the best, if not standard, practice for time-sensitive removal operations. Seven winter weather events requiring removal operations occurred during Steele’s tenure with the Division. Before the last snow event of the season, Steele requested that, if needed, Lopez call her. Lopez emailed or texted Steele notice of the need to report. Steele did not become aware of Lopez’s notice in time to organize a snow removal crew. She called Tillman to explain her delay and immediately reported to work. In her brief absence, Tillman notified crews to report for snow removal operations. Although delayed, the Division accomplished its snow removal operations. No evidence indicates that the Division disciplined anyone for the delay.

Office Dynamics. With respect to formal meetings, informal coworker interactions, and work assignments, Steele felt that Raines and Lopez included her less than they included Brooks. As often as held, Steele attended weekly management team meetings. At these meetings, Raines appeared to interact with Brooks more than Steele. Outside these meetings, Steele felt similarly excluded. Often during her shifts, Steele worked away from the Division vuth her crews at work sites. Brooks and Raines, however, typically worked their shifts at the Division. Brooks completed administrative paperwork work in his office. jRaines usually kept to his office and limited his interaction with others, but not always. Division employees observed Raines, Lopez, Brooks, and occasionally Tillman sometimes gathering in Raines’ office and once going out to lunch. But no employee explained the frequency or purpose of the gatherings. Those details aside, Raines and Lopez kept Brooks more involved in work projects than Steele; at least, it appeared that way to Steele, Brooks, and one other Division employee. Raines and Lopez assigned projects that required immediate attention to the Maintenance Manager most readily available. Steele sometimes received work assignments indirectly from Raines or Lopez through Brooks or Tillman. Other times, Steele learned that Brooks completed work assignments without her involvement. According to Brooks, projects often came through him because he was present [1157]*1157at the Division, and he would volunteer to contact Steele as necessary.

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Bluebook (online)
189 F. Supp. 3d 1152, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65546, 2016 WL 2894586, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/steele-v-city-of-topeka-ksd-2016.