Young v. McHugh

24 F. Supp. 3d 658, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75022, 98 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,091, 2014 WL 2480600
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedJune 3, 2014
DocketCase No. 12-15187
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 24 F. Supp. 3d 658 (Young v. McHugh) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Young v. McHugh, 24 F. Supp. 3d 658, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75022, 98 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,091, 2014 WL 2480600 (E.D. Mich. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT!# 43]

GERSHWIN A. DRAIN, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

On November 26, 2012, Plaintiff, Dionne Young (“Young”), filed the instant Complaint against Defendants, John M. McHugh, U.S. Army TACOM (“TACOM”), Mary Jo Estep (“Estep”), Joseph Zaecagni (“Zaccagni”), and Thomas DeYoung (“DeYoung”). Presently before the Court is Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment [# 43], filed on April 24, 2014. Young filed a Response [# 45], on May 15, 2014. Defendants’ filed a Reply on May [662]*66229, 2014. Oral arguments were heard before the Court on June 2, 2014.

Based on the facts below, the Court will grant in part and deny in part Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Young, an African American woman, has served in the United States Army Reserves (“US Reserves”) for over 19 years, where she rose to the rank of Captain. In 2005 Young began her employment with the Department of Veterans Affairs (“V.A.”) as a Team Lead for the Fee Basis Department. In 2007, Young transferred from the V.A. to U.S. Army TACOM (“TA-COM”) to take the position of a System Acquisition Specialist. Young was later reassigned to the position of secretary, and then received a promotion to Payroll Technician GS-7 (“payroll technician”). Young had no previous experience as a payroll technician. At the time of Young’s hiring, the racial composition of the payroll department was two Caucasian female Customer Service Representatives (“CSR”), two Caucasian males as second and third line supervisors, and one African American male CSR, David Coleman (“Coleman”). Young alleges that during her employment at TACOM she was subjected to: (1) race discrimination, (2) disability discrimination, (3) retaliation, and (4) instances of intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Young’s position in the payroll department was a “developmental assignment,” meaning 120 days of on the job training. However, Young’s training only lasted 3 months before she went on maternity leave. Young’s immediate supervisor, Es-tep, was responsible for training Young on payroll procedures and the tools and applications utilized by the department. Coleman also occasionally trained Young. Young maintains that whenever she asked Estep questions concerning a payroll issue, Estep would refer her to Coleman.

In December 2008, Estep and Young had an altercation. When Estep returned to the office after a smoke break Young commented, “I need to become a smoker because smokers get all the breaks.” Es-tep stood up from her chair and walked over to Young, calling her a “bitch” and yelled, “[y]ou need to shut-up and mind your own business.” Young responded: “You need to step back ‘cause if you hit me it’s gonna be on ... I am not one to mess with, and I’m not sure what you did with other people but you’re not gonna do it with me.” Coleman interceded and separated the two women. Young was seven to eight months pregnant at the time. Following the confrontation, Estep gave Young the “silent treatment” for several months-until Young asked Estep to put the incident aside and try to move on since they had to work together.

Young returned from her maternity leave in July 2009 and was promoted .to pay technician. As a pay technician, Young’s responsibilities included maintaining and reviewing documents, handling customer service calls, imputing data into the payroll system, and responding to related questions from customers. On July 10, 2009, Young met with Zaccagni to discuss her performance. Young was given a document that identified the elements of her performance standards and the specific tasks that she was expected to complete on a daily basis.

When she returned from her maternity leave, Young’s desk was moved outside of the CSRs’ payroll area. When Young requested that her desk be moved back to the CSRs’ work area Zaccagni said no and that her request “was stupid.” When Young complained the following week that her office phone, which had also been moved to the outside office, was not work[663]*663ing properly because it was incorrectly set up, Zaccagni told her to set the system up on her own. On October 28, 2009, Young spoke to Zaccagni about attending “More Solutions,” a class given by Employee Assistance that emphasized managing stress, anger, and relationships. Young alleges that Zaccagni gave her a hard time about attending the class even though it was offered by TACOM as part of staff development and potentially had both personal and professional benefits.

On November 2, 2009, DeYoung and Zaccagni called Young into the office and told her that she should refrain from smiling or laughing because some people interpreted her actions as Young “picking on them.” The following day, due to tension in the payroll section, a meeting was held with DeYoung, Zaccagni, Estep, Anick, and Young. At the meeting DeYoung permitted Estep and Anick to make rude comments towards her, including belittling and yelling at her. At one point in the meeting, Estep stood over Young and said to DeYoung, “it is either her or me.” DeYoung singled Young out saying things were not looking good for her and he did not want to hear anything she had to say because his mind was already made up. DeYoung continuously asked Young if she wanted to remain in the payroll section. After the meeting, DeYoung emailed Young asking if she would consider working a development assignment in G1 for 120 days considering the dynamics within the office and suggesting that it might be a practical solution to resolve the issues in the payroll department.

On November 4, 2009, Young contacted a TACOM EEO Official to complain about her work conditions and racial discrimination. Later that day DeYoung and Zac-cagni sought out Young and requested her decision about working a development assignment in Gl. Young informed them that she needed to know more about the assignment before she would commit to it. DeY-oung subsequently stated that Estep and Anick would determine Young’s promotion. In the weeks that followed Young was told Estep would be training her on payroll issues, however Anick would be trained first, Estep and Anick were approved for compensation time but Young was not, DeYoung tried to get Young to reschedule a long standing appointment and change her military duty schedule, Young’s leave time was deleted off the system, and Estep and Anick were allowed to leave early without being charged leave time while Young was not.

On November 24, 2009, Estep approached Young about a problem she had with an email Young had sent. Young explained that she agreed with Estep, but was in the middle of assisting a walk up customer and requested Anick step in to assist the customer. Anick became upset and Estep yelled at Young, “you need to do what you are told, I am tired of this.” Young replied that she did not have time for drama and wasn’t going to start the day off arguing. Estep continued to yell at Young “oh I just want to hit you ... if I could just hit you.” Estep then picked up an object on her desk and balled up her fist as if to throw the object at Young. Anick ran out of the office to get DeYoung. Young became so upset that she had to visit the nurses’ station and was transported to the hospital because she began having sharp pains in her chest, dizziness, and felt nauseated. Young was kept overnight at the hospital and told that her symptoms appeared to be stress induced.

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24 F. Supp. 3d 658, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75022, 98 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,091, 2014 WL 2480600, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/young-v-mchugh-mied-2014.