Stephanie Crockett v. Mission Hospital, Inc.

717 F.3d 348, 2013 WL 2350454, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 10882, 118 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 895
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedMay 30, 2013
Docket12-1910
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 717 F.3d 348 (Stephanie Crockett v. Mission Hospital, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stephanie Crockett v. Mission Hospital, Inc., 717 F.3d 348, 2013 WL 2350454, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 10882, 118 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 895 (4th Cir. 2013).

Opinions

[350]*350Affirmed by published opinion. Judge AGEE wrote the opinion, in which Judge GREGORY joined. Senior Judge FABER wrote a separate concurring opinion.

OPINION

AGEE, Circuit Judge:

Stephanie Crockett (“Crockett”) appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment to her former employer, Mission Hospital, Inc. (“Mission”), on her hostile work environment claim brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1963, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e (“Title VII”). For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I.

A.

Crockett began working in a full-time capacity at Mission in 2002 as a radiologic technologist on the second shift. In February 2008, Crockett was reassigned and Harry Kemp (“Kemp”) became her supervisor. He remained Crockett’s supervisor until his death in March 2010. Despite his title as a supervisor, Kemp did not have the authority to hire or fire any employee, including Crockett.1

In December 2009, Crockett was counseled concerning a lack of initiative based on her documented work history and the concerns of co-workers. In January 2010, she was cited for a violation of the administrative policy against the use of cellular telephones and the misrepresentation of facts to Mission representatives. On February 16, 2010, she was issued a final warning, which required an “immediate change in behavior and any non merit behavior or misrepresentation of fact. Use of cellular device[s] while working and not on break is not acceptable.” (J.A. 304.) Crockett signed the final warning, which included the consequence that any further misconduct would result in the termination of her employment. Kemp was not involved in the decision to issue a final warning.

On February 18, 2010, Crockett saw Kemp in the break room when she first clocked in to work. When Kemp took out a copy of the final warning which had been issued to Crockett, she asked if she could speak with him about the situation. He agreed to do so but she asked if they might speak later in a non-public area of the hospital.

Around 8:30 p.m. that evening, Kemp came to get Crockett from the diagnostic area of the radiology department so that they could speak. Kemp led Crockett to an office which was no longer occupied. When Crockett asked why they were going to that office, Kemp replied that he thought his office had been bugged. When they entered the office, Kemp closed and locked the door. Kemp told Crockett that she had almost gotten him into a lot of trouble because she had complained that her performance evaluation scores had been changed by a supervisor in a position superior to Kemp. Further, Kemp told Crockett that since he could no longer trust her, she needed to prove to him that she was not wearing a wire device and recording the conversation. Kemp said that he had some information for Crockett regarding her job, but would not repeat it unless she proved that she was not wearing a wire. After about twenty minutes of discussion on the issue of whether she was wearing a wire, Kemp told Crockett that he had been given her termination papers. [351]*351Crockett felt that if she did not prove that she was not wearing a wire, Kemp would fire her on the spot.

Finally, Kemp lifted his shirt to show that he was not wearing a wire and offered to remove his trousers down to his shorts, an offer Crockett refused. Crockett then asked why she could not lift her shirt in front of a female technician, rather than Kemp, but he stated he did not want to get anyone else involved. Although Crockett did not know if Kemp had the authority to actually fire her, she felt that he could write her up for another corrective action which would result in her termination. Kemp told her that he was a happily married man and they just needed to get the wire issue resolved. Crockett began crying but finally lifted her shirt as fast as she possibly could to expose her bra. Kemp was still not satisfied, so Crockett finally lifted her bra to expose the underside of her breasts. She was unsure if her nipples had been exposed. Kemp did not make any sexual overtures to her. and did not make any comment about her breasts. He calmly stated that they were now able to speak.

Crockett had continued to cry throughout this time. Kemp pulled his chair in front of the chair that Crockett was sitting in and placed his legs on the outside of her legs. Kemp reiterated that Crockett was in a lot of trouble and should not have complained to Mission’s Human Resources department (“HR”) that Chris Chandler (“Chandler”), who was in a supervisory position above Kemp, had changed the scores on her performance evaluation. Kemp told Crockett that he was the only person she could trust.

At the end of an approximately thirty-minute conversation, Crockett asked what else he wanted to tell her and Kemp replied that she should only trust him. Kemp then stated that they should “seal it with a kiss.” (J.A. 75.) Crockett refused to kiss him, but replied, “[h]ow about a hug,” while she leaned forward to pat him on the back. (J.A. 76.) As Crockett turned away, Kemp kissed her right cheek and said, “I’ve always wanted just one kiss.” (J.A. 76.) Crockett again refused. As she turned her head, Kemp kissed her cheek again. Kemp then said, “You’re not going to tell anybody, are you?” to which Crockett replied that she would not. (J.A. 76.) Later that night, Kemp again sought reassurance that Crockett would not report the incident and on two more occasions asked for a kiss.

Prior to the incident on February 18, 2010, Kemp had never made any overtures of any kind toward Crockett. Nor did Kemp make any overtures of any kind toward Crockett after February 18, 2010.

Upset over the incident, Crockett asked Kemp if she could leave work one hour early. Her request was granted, but she did not contact anyone in HR or management at Mission about the incident. Crockett then took leave pursuant to the Family Medical Leave Act from February 19-24, 2010. On February 19, 2010, she retained an attorney.

B.

When Crockett returned to work on February 25, 2010, she was summoned to a meeting with Teresa McCarthy (“McCarthy”) of HR and Kathy Jones (“Jones”), the director of her department. Crockett was told that Kemp had reported continued misuse by Crockett of her cell phone and accused her of “flashing” him with her shirt in order to persuade him not to report the misuse. In response to these accusations, Crockett told them that Kemp had done something “horrific” to her and was trying to cover it up. (J.A. 101.) Crockett, however, refused to elaborate, [352]*352stating that her attorney had advised her not to do so. Crockett also did not tell anyone in management at Mission about the incident. At the conclusion of the meeting, Crockett took Jones to her locker in order to prove that her cell phone was in the locker and had not been used. Jones told Crockett that she would “get to the bottom of this,” but placed Crockett on suspension pending the conclusion of the investigation. (J.A. 106.) Crockett remained on suspension until March 8, 2010.

On February 26, 2010, McCarthy and Karen Ensley (“Ensley”), another HR representative, met with Kemp about Crockett’s allegation that he had done something “horrific” to her. Kemp denied that anything unusual had occurred between them.

On March 1, 2010, McCarthy and Ensley met with Crockett.

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717 F.3d 348, 2013 WL 2350454, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 10882, 118 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 895, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stephanie-crockett-v-mission-hospital-inc-ca4-2013.