U.S. Equal Emp't Opportunity Comm'n v. PC Iron, Inc.

316 F. Supp. 3d 1221
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedMay 1, 2018
DocketCase No.: 16-cv-02372-CAB-(WVG)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 316 F. Supp. 3d 1221 (U.S. Equal Emp't Opportunity Comm'n v. PC Iron, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
U.S. Equal Emp't Opportunity Comm'n v. PC Iron, Inc., 316 F. Supp. 3d 1221 (S.D. Cal. 2018).

Opinion

Hon. Cathy Ann Bencivengo, United States District Judge

This matter is before the Court on a total of four motions for partial summary judgment. The motions have been fully briefed, and the Court deems them suitable for submission without oral argument. Each motion is addressed below.

I. Background

Plaintiff-Intervenor Elsa Perez worked for Defendant P.C. Iron, Inc. ("PCI") between 2003 and 20111 in the position of Assistant Office Manager. Her job responsibilities included answering the phone, bookkeeping, filing, and general clerical work. [Doc. No. 54-5 at 16.] In February 2011, Perez became pregnant. According to Perez and Plaintiff Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"), PCI's Chief Executive Officer Jerry Anderson and Office Manager Marlene Suits subjected her to a hostile work environment on the basis of her pregnancy. During her deposition, Perez was asked: "Has anyone at PC Iron ever made any comments to you that you believe were inappropriate?" [Doc. No. 50-3 at 11.] In response, she said that Anderson and Suits made between 5 and 20 inappropriate comments between 2003 and 2011 when she worked at PCI. [Doc. No. 50-3 at 12-15.] She attributed "six or more" such comments to 2011. [Doc. No. 50-3 at 18.] However, she was only able to provide details about the following comments that occurred in 2011 during her pregnancy:

• When Perez told Anderson and Suits in March 2011 that she was pregnant, Suits "said that it was a stupid idea; that [Perez] shouldn't be having any more kids since [she] was a single mom already with two kids." [Doc. No. 50-3 at 16, 22.]
• While at work in June or July 2011, Perez discovered that she was bleeding while in the restroom. When she told Suits, Suits "seemed like she didn't believe" Perez. Perez then went to the hospital, and while she was there, Suits kept calling her asking when Perez would be coming back to work. [Doc. No. 50-3 at 17, 23.]
• In June or July 2011, Suits asked Perez questions about her maternity leave and when they looked up how much leave Perez was entitled to, Suits told Perez, "why would [she] need that much time if all [she] d[id] was sit on [her] butt all day and *1224don't do nothing, that [she] didn't need that much time off. And [Suits] would ask [Perez] constantly what [her] plan was because [Suits] didn't want to be left holding the bag. So [Suits] wanted to know what [Perez] was going to do with [her] baby when the baby was born." [Doc. No. 50-3 at 20, 24.]
• In June or July 2011, Suits told Perez that she would not be allowed to work part-time and that she would have to find someone to take her baby to appointments because PCI was not going to let Perez leave all the time. [Doc. No. 50-3 at 20-21, 24-25.]

At her deposition, Perez was unable to remember any other inappropriate comments made by PCI in 2011. [Doc. No. 50-3 at 22, 25.]

Perez's last day of work before maternity leave was September 28, 2011. [Doc. No. 50-3 at 30.] She was scheduled to return to work on December 12, 2011. At the end of November or beginning of December 2011, Suits called Perez to confirm that Perez intended to return to work at the conclusion of her maternity leave. According to Perez, Suits said that she needed to know for sure because PCI wanted to hire the temporary employee who had been filling in while Perez was on leave. [Doc. No. 50-3 at 30.] When Perez confirmed her intent to return, Suits told her that she needed to have childcare in place. [Id. at 31.]

On or around Monday, December 5th, Perez went to PCI's office to ask Suits to complete some forms that would help Perez get childcare through a low-income program at the YMCA. [Id. at 31-32.] Perez told Suits that she needed the forms by Wednesday, December 7th. In response, Suits told Perez that "she was trying to run a business and that she would try to have it done for [Perez] by Wednesday." [Id. at 32-33.] Perez called Suits the next day to see if she had completed the forms, and Suits told her that she had not, but that she would try to have it done by Wednesday. [Id. at 33.] According to Perez, on Friday, December 9th, Suits called and told her that she "didn't need to return back to work that following Monday; that [Perez] was being let go because [Suits] liked the temp better; that [Suits] was doing [Perez] a favor by letting [Perez] stay home to be home with [Perez's baby]." [Id. at 34.]

On August 24, 2012, Perez filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC. [Doc. No. 50-3 at 38.] On the same day, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing ("DFEH") issued a notice to PCI and Perez that Perez's complaint was referred by the EEOC and that the EEOC would be responsible for processing the complaint. [Doc. No. 51-3 at 47.] The DFEH's notice also notified Perez that it was her right-to-sue notice, and any civil action "must be brought within one year from the date of this notice," but that "this one-year period will be tolled during the pendency of the EEOC's investigation of your complaint." [Id. ]

On June 1, 2016, after conducting an investigation, the EEOC issued a letter of determination to PCI that stated:

The Commission finds that there is reasonable cause to believe that the Charging Party was discharged because of her sex (female, pregnancy) in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.
During the course of the investigation, the Commission found evidence that the Charging Party was subjected to a hostile work environment because of her sex (female, pregnancy) in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended. During the course of the investigation, the Commission also found evidence of commingling of medical information *1225in Charging Party's personnel file.
The Commission finds reasonable cause to believe that Respondent subjected the Charging Party to a hostile work environment because of her sex (female, pregnancy). The Commission also finds reasonable cause to believe that the Respondent failed to maintain confidential medical records in a separate medical file, i.e., commingling of medical information with personnel files, in violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1630.14(b)(1) and the ADA.

[Doc. No. 51-3 at 49.] After conciliation efforts between the EEOC and PCI were unsuccessful, the EEOC filed the complaint in this matter on September 9, 2016. [Doc. No. 1.] On December 15, 2016, the EEOC filed a first amended complaint (the "FAC"), which remains the operative complaint, asserting claims for a hostile work environment and discriminatory discharge in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, based on PCI's treatment of and discharge of Perez due to her pregnancy. [Doc. No. 5.]

On August 1, 2017, Perez filed a motion to intervene [Doc. No. 12], and the Court granted the motion on August 31, 2017 [Doc. No. 19].

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316 F. Supp. 3d 1221, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/us-equal-empt-opportunity-commn-v-pc-iron-inc-casd-2018.