Wade v. District of Columbia

780 F. Supp. 2d 1, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42693, 2011 WL 1491075
District Court, District of Columbia·Decided April 20, 2011·No. Civil Action 08-1187 (CKK)·Published·Cited by 52 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

COLLEEN KOLLAR-KOTELLY, District Judge.

Plaintiff Christopher B. Wade, an officer in the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department, brings this action alleging a hostile work environment based on sex and retaliation by his employer in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq. Presently pending before the Court is Defendant’s [31] Motion for Summary Judgment. Plaintiff has filed an opposition brief, and Defendant has filed a reply, and the motion is now ripe for adjudication. For the reasons explained below, the Court shall grant Defendant’s motion with respect to Wade’s hostile work environment claim and most of his retaliation claims and deny the motion with respect to one of Wade’s retaliation claims.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Christopher B. Wade (“Wade”) has been employed as a patrol officer with the Metropolitan Police Department *5 (“MPD”) since 2002. Def.’s Stmt. 1 ¶ 1. In May 2004, Wade applied for and was assigned to the Office of Organizational Development (“OOD”) as a technical writer in the Directive Development Unit (“DDU”) of the Policy and Program Development Division (“PPDD”). Id. ¶2. During the period between October 2005 and October 2006, Wade worked under the direct supervision of Jo Hoots (“Hoots”), a civilian employee. Id. ¶ 3. From October 2005 until December 2006, Wade’s second-line supervisor in that office was Debra Hoff-master (“Hoffmaster”), also a civilian employee.

According to Wade, things changed dramatically when Hoots and Hoffmaster came to PPDD. See Decl. of Christopher Wade (‘Wade Deck”) ¶ 6. At that time, Wade was one of four men working in the PPDD. See id. The other three men were [REDACTED #1], [REDACTED # 2], and [REDACTED # 3]. Id. ¶¶ 6-8. [REDACTED # l]’s working hours in the unit were from 5:30 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. Dep. of Christopher Wade (“Wade Dep.”) at 24. Hoffmaster told everyone in the unit that they would have to work from 8:30 A.M. to 5 P.M., and [REDACTED#!] asked to leave the unit. Id. Then, [REDACTED # 1] was replaced with a woman who was allowed to work the same hours that [REDACTED # 1] had worked. Id. at 25. Wade claims that after [REDACTED # 1] left, Hoots and Hoffmaster began to pick on [REDACTED #2], Wade Deck ¶7. Hoots submitted a memorandum up the chain of command asking for [REDACTED# 2] to be transferred, but her request was denied because she could not demonstrate any problems with his performance. Id. Wade claims that Hoots then began writing [REDACTED # 2] up for minor and non-existent infractions. Id. Around that time, [REDACTED # 2] received notice that he had made the list for promotion and requested a transfer until he received his promotion. Id. [REDACTED # 2] was replaced with a woman. Id. ¶ 9.

With [REDACTED #1] and [REDACTED # 2] gone, the only men left in the unit were Wade and [REDACTED #3]. According to [REDACTED #3], Hoffinaster subjected him to supervision that was “very arbitrary, unprofessional, dictatorial and unnecessarily micromanaging].” See Pl.’s Ex. 4 (MPD Office of Professional Responsibility Diversity and EEO Compliance Unit Memorandum (Dec. 22, 2006)) (hereinafter, “MPD Investigation Report”) at 13. 2 [REDACTED # 3]’s *6 interactions with Hoffmaster caused him a lot of stress, and he was eventually hospitalized because of a heart condition aggravated by job-related stress. See id. On one occasion, [REDACTED # 3] was told to write a report because he was late with a deadline. Id. [REDACTED # 3] also complained that Hoffmaster barraged him with demeaning emails inquiring about his work. Id. at 13-14. [REDACTED #3] stated that he did not believe that the females in the unit were subject to the same email traffic and monitoring as male members. Id. at 14. [REDACTED # 3] also stated that he believed that [REDACTED #2] and [REDACTED # 1] were “pretty much forced out.” Id. [REDACTED #3] stated that he also had confrontations with Hoots, whom he believed acted at Hoffmaster’s direction. Id. After [REDACTED #3] filed a hostile work environment complaint, [REDACTED # 3] was transferred out from under Hoffmaster’s supervision in March 2006. Id. at 13-14.

Wade claims that after [REDACTED # 3] was transferred, Hoots and Hoffmaster began trying to force him out of the unit. In mid-May 2006, Wade requested leave to attend a training seminar on writing skills. See PL’s Ex. 5, Att. 4. Hoots denied his request on the grounds that Wade had already attended a writing course and that she wanted another employee to attend instead. See Wade Decl. ¶ 10. According to Wade, however, he was the only one who had requested to attend the course, and the other employee sent by Hoots was an editor who should not have needed the training in question and had not requested to attend the course. Id. After Hoots denied his training request, Hoots met with Wade and told him that he was “living on the edge” because he handed in assignments on the day they were due. Id. ¶ 11. Hoots told Wade that if he did not feel comfortable in the unit that he could always request a transfer. Id. Wade felt that this meeting came from out of the blue and that he had not missed any deadlines. Id. Wade felt like Hoots was trying to attack his performance so that he could be transferred out of the unit. Id. ¶ 12.

In June 2006, Wade volunteered to assist with a youth initiative involving McGruff, the crime-fighting mascot. PL’s Stmt. ¶ 5. However, Wade later learned that the volunteering would require far more work than he had anticipated, and on July 12, 2006, he sent around an email saying he no longer wished to be involved. Wade Decl. ¶ 13. The following week, Hoffmaster told him that the assignment was mandatory. Id. Wade needed several days to put the presentation together, leaving him unable to complete his other work for several days. Id. ¶ 14. In addition, Wade was scheduled to be out of the office for various reasons, including jury duty and testimony at a murder trial. See PL’s Ex. 5, Att. 7 at 1 (Emails between Wade and Hoots). When Wade was unable to complete two assignments by July 27, 2006, Hoots asked Wade to provide a written statement on a P.D. 119 form— which is typically used for taking statements from suspects — explaining why he was unable to meet the deadline. Id. at 2 (7/27/2006 Email from Hoots to Wade); MPD Investigation Report at 8. On August 14, 2006, Wade filled out a P.D. 119 form explaining that he had missed the deadline because: (1) Hoots told him to focus on the McGruff presentation and (2) he had been assaulted while working mandatory overtime on the weekend and was placed on sick leave up until the deadline. See PL’s Ex. 7 at 1.

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Wade v. District of Columbia, 780 F. Supp. 2d 1, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42693, 2011 WL 1491075 (D.D.C. 2011).

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