Opinion ID: 794655
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Pell's Claims

Text: 12 Robin Pell took the job as recreation supervisor having previously worked for the Village, running the day camp in the summer of 1998 and managing the fall festival. In 1998 she received a provisional appointment to the position of recreation supervisor. The Village made that appointment permanent in 2000 after Pell passed a qualifying civil service test. 13 Pell, like Demoret, contends that as an employee she was subjected to a hostile work environment and disparate treatment on the basis of her gender. Pell's hostile work environment claims are similar to those of Demoret. She declares that Douglas spoke to her in a condescending manner and did not extend social pleasantries, such as saying hello or good morning, that he offered to male colleagues. On one occasion at a Village function, Douglas commented to her in front of two other town employees that she looked nice and that [she] should dress that way more often, because when [she] wear[s] a sweatsuit [her] IQ must drop 20 points. Also, according to Pell, Douglas accused her of being insubordinate when she expressed disagreement with him. Pell contends that the Administrator used a different tone of voice to speak to her than the one he used to speak to male colleagues at the department head meetings. When Pell complained to him that he did not treat her the same as male department heads, Douglas accused her of being too emotional. As part of her hostile work environment claim, Pell points to Zegarelli's and Douglas's comments regarding a sexual harassment seminar for Village employees. According to Pell, Mayor Zegarelli said that the seminar would be pointless for some Village employees. He permitted jokes about the seminar during a department head meeting, and he joked about the amount of litigation against the Village. Village Administrator Douglas commented that the Village was holding the seminar because women do foolish things. Pell found these comments offensive. 14 Like Demoret, Pell also asserts that Douglas micromanaged her assignments and harassed her. In support of this contention, Pell points to Douglas's reviewing assignments with her in a detailed manner and giving her lists of tasks to complete. She also contends that the Administrator scrutinized her department's budget and expenditures more than he examined the budgets of other departments that were run by male department heads. 15 Pell cites various office moves as evidence of gender discrimination. In March 1999 she was moved from an office with windows to an adjacent windowless office. Pell maintains further that she was treated differently from the male department heads, especially with respect to pay issues. She declares she was paid a lower salary than male employees of the Village at her level. In fact, she says, she was even paid less than two of her male subordinates. Pell's starting salary as recreation supervisor was $40,000, but her male predecessors, one of whom held the position for only two months, each made $48,000. She charges the pay inequity was a result of gender discrimination. 16 In addition to her duties as recreation supervisor, Pell took on the job of running the Village's day camp instead of hiring a separate day camp director. The Mayor promised her a stipend as compensation for the extra responsibility, but the Village never paid her for this work. According to Pell, her male counterparts—the other department heads—regularly received stipends or extra money for performing duties beyond their regular roles. 17 Pell also contends that she was not allowed to accumulate comp time or overtime pay. Douglas required her to submit her work schedule to him in advance, and he would instruct her to take off more time from work so that she did not accumulate overtime. The Administrator accused Pell of taking overtime without permission and threatened her with disciplinary charges for unauthorized overtime. Although she was not in fact charged, Douglas's scrutiny limited her ability to earn overtime by working evenings and weekends. Douglas did not similarly require male department heads to scale back their hours or to limit their overtime. The male department heads were permitted to supplement their base salaries substantially, which were already higher than Pell's salary, by earning overtime. 18 Pell declares she was eligible for a promotion and pay increase for passing the civil service test for superintendents, but the Village declined to change her job title to recreation superintendent even after she qualified for that position. That title was held by at least one of her male predecessors. Pell reasons that it was discriminatory for the Village to refuse to change her title to superintendent because she was doing the job of her predecessors and providing more services than they did.