U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Scott Medical Health Center, P.C.

217 F. Supp. 3d 834, 2016 WL 6569233, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 153744, 100 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,675
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 4, 2016
DocketCivil Action No. 16-225
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 217 F. Supp. 3d 834 (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Scott Medical Health Center, P.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Scott Medical Health Center, P.C., 217 F. Supp. 3d 834, 2016 WL 6569233, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 153744, 100 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,675 (W.D. Pa. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM ORDER

Cathy Bissoon, United States District Judge

The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“the EEOC” or “the Commission”) brings this action pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) on behalf of Dale Baxley, a gay male employed and allegedly constructively discharged by Scott Medical Health Center, P.C., (“Defendant”), due to an allegedly sexually hostile work environment perpetuated by Defendant’s telemarketing manager, Robert McClendon. See generally, Compl. (Doc. 1). Defendant moves to dismiss Plaintiffs Complaint on two grounds—first, that pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), the “Court lacks jurisdiction to hear this matter due to Plaintiffs failure to comply with the procedural requirements of Title VII,” (Def's Mot. (Doc. 11) at ¶2), and second, that pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), Plaintiff has failed to establish a claim on which relief can be granted because, Defendant argues, Title VII does not protect discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Id. at ¶ 10, For the reasons below, Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss will be denied.

I. MEMORANDUM

BACKGROUND

From mid-July until on or about August 19, 2013, Dale Baxley was employed by [836]*836Defendant in a telemarketing position. (Doc. 1) at ¶ 11(a) and (g). At all times relevant to the Complaint, Robert McClendon was Defendant’s telemarketing manager. Id. at ¶ 11(b). The Commission alleges that, through Mr. McClendon’s discriminatory behavior, Defendant “engaged in sex discrimination against Baxley by subjecting him to a continuing course of unwelcome and offensive harassment because of his sex.” Id. at ¶ 11(c). Furthermore, Plaintiff alleges, the “harassment was of sufficient severity and/or pervasiveness to create a hostile work environment because of [Mr. Baxley’s] sex.” Id.

Specifically, the Complaint alleges Mr. McClendon “routinely made unwelcome and offensive comments about [Mr.] Baxley, including but not limited to regularly calling him ‘fag,’ ‘faggot,’ ‘fucking faggot,’ and ‘queer,’ and making statements such as ‘fucking queer can’t do your job.’ ” Id. at ¶ 11(d). Plaintiff alleges these type of harassing comments were made “at least three to four times a week.” Id. Additionally, according to the allegations in the Complaint, “upon learning that [Mr.] Baxley is gay and had a male partner ..., [Mr.] McClendon made highly offensive statements to [Mr.] Baxley about [Mr.] Baxley’s relationship with the partner such as saying, T always wondered how you fags have sex,’ T don’t understand how you fucking fags have sex,’ and “Who’s the butch and who is the bitch?’ ” Id. at ¶ 11(e).

On March 1, 2016, the EEOC instituted this action following an investigation of charges of discrimination brought by five of Mr. Baxley’s female former co-workers (the “Charges”). Id. at ¶ 6. In those Charges, the employees alleged they had been subjected to discrimination because of sex. Specifically, the Charges allege that Mr. McClendon subjected the “Complainants to sexual harassment and unwanted touching so frequently and severely that it created a hostile and offensive work environment and resulted in adverse employment decisions being taken against them.” Fullard EEOC Charge, (Doc. 12-1) at ¶ 9; see also Griffie, Mackie, Wieczorek and Eber EEOC Charges (Docs. 12-2—12-5).

During the course of the EEOC’s investigation of these Charges, it learned that this alleged harassment extended to Mr. Baxley, and learned of Mr. Baxley’s allegation of constructive discharge. (Doc. 1) at ¶ 6. On July 22, 2015, the Commission issued Letters of Determination to Defendant “finding reasonable cause to believe that Title VII was violated” with regards to the Charging parties, and also stating:

Investigation also revealed that [Mr,] McClendon harassed a male employee because of sex, specifically and repeatedly referring to the male employee as a “faggot,” and repeatedly asking about the employee’s sexual experiences and preferences. The investigation revealed that [Mr.] McClendon targeted this male employee because he did not conform to what [Mr.] McClendon believed was acceptable or expected behavior for a male because of his association with members of the same sex rather than the opposite sex. The harassment created a work environment that was both subjectively and objectively hostile and intolerable because of sex, male. The male employee complained about [Mr.] McClendon’s conduct directly to the President/Chief Executive Officer, who shrugged it off and took no action at all to stop the harassment, which continued. [Defendant’s] failure to engage in prompt and effective action in response to the ongoing harassment resulted in the male employee’s constructive discharge when he quit in August 2018.

Fullard Determination, (Doc. 12-6) at 2; see also Griffie, Mackie, Wieczorek and [837]*837Eber Determination Letters (Docs. 12-7—12-10). The EEOC then provided Defendant an opportunity to remedy the discriminatory practices described in the Letter of Determination. (Doc. 1) at ¶ 8. According to the Complaint, the EEOC was unable to reach a conciliation agreement with Defendant that the EEOC found acceptable. Id. at ¶ 9. On September 15, 2015, the EEOC issued to Defendant a Notice of Failure of Conciliation. Id. at ¶ 10. This lawsuit followed.

ANALYSIS

Defendant’s first basis for urging the Court to dismiss Plaintiffs case relates to what Defendant believes are the EEOC’s procedural deficiencies in bringing this suit—deficiencies, Defendant argues, that render the Court unable to hear the dispute for want of subject matter jurisdiction. See Def.’s Br. (Doc. 12) at 4-11. Defendant argues that the EEOC can only litigate claims that have been subjected to the full administrative process required by Title VII and that the EEOC did not abide by the proper process in this case. As part of that procedural deficiency, Defendant argues, the EEOC’s suit is untimely.

The Supreme Court has clarified that the “EEOC is not acting as a proxy for discrimination victims but instead acts on its own authority to vindicate the public interest in eliminating workplace discrimination.” EEOC v. Waffle House, Inc., 534 U.S. 279, 286-88, 296, 122 S.Ct. 754, 151 L.Ed.2d 755 (2002). Title VII establishes a number of preconditions that must occur in order for the Commission to bring a lawsuit on its own behalf. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(b), (f)(1). First, the EEOC must receive a charge filed on behalf of an employee alleging workplace discrimination. Id. Next, the EEOC must provide notice of the charge to the employer. Id. Then, the EEOC must conduct an investigation into the charge. Id. After its investigation, the EEOC must make a reasonable cause determination. Id And finally, if the EEOC determines reasonable cause exists, it must engage in conciliation efforts. Id. Only once all of these preconditions have been met can the EEOC file suit. Id. The EEOC has completed each of these prerequisites in the instant case. (Doc. 1) at ¶¶ 6-10.

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Bluebook (online)
217 F. Supp. 3d 834, 2016 WL 6569233, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 153744, 100 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,675, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/us-equal-employment-opportunity-commission-v-scott-medical-health-pawd-2016.