Opinion ID: 2976348
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Amanda Grace-Hawkins and Kathryn Jackson

Text: Hawkins began work on line 75 sometime in 2002. Until May of 2003, Hawkins said that she and Robinson were friends at work and occasionally socialized. Robinson and Hawkins were working on the line on Friday, May 16, 2003 when Robinson began to “play around.” Hawkins flicked Robinson’s hat and, in response, Robinson “forcefully poked” Hawkins in the right breast and then started laughing and dancing around. She alleges that Robinson then said: “I did it . . . what are you gonna do?” Hawkins reported the incident to her supervisor, Jim Gress, the following Monday and requested that either she or Robinson be taken off of line 75 because she did not want to work with him anymore. At that time, Hawkins asked that her report be kept confidential, but Gress later informed her that he was required to report the incident. Gress made the report and Hawkins was called to a meeting with management. Hawkins stated at the meeting that she was afraid to make a formal complaint because she had heard that Robinson “was crazy” and “stuff might happen” to her. Although the record is unclear as to precisely when Robinson was removed from line 75, it occurred no later than nine days after Hawkins first reported the incident to management. Soon after learning of Hawkins’s complaint, the brewery assigned Shirley Boyd to investigate the incident. During Boyd’s investigation, another employee, Kathryn Jackson, confirmed that Robinson had poked Hawkins in the breast and acknowledged that she had seen Hawkins trying to get away from Robinson. Gress also confirmed that the night after Hawkins complained about Robinson, Robinson “stared intently” at Hawkins while they were working together on line 75. And at some point before Robinson was terminated, Hawkins reported that someone had “keyed” her car. During Boyd’s investigation, LeDawn Hudson, another brewery employee, told Boyd that Robinson had called her a “dyke” in 2002 and had threatened to hit her with a shovel if she complained. Hudson also reported that Robinson had thrown a bottle at her and that, for two weeks after Robinson threatened her, her tires were flattened every day. She said that she knew that Robinson had done harassing things before but that nothing had happened to him, and that women who complained about him experienced retaliation. Supervisors at the brewery also made comments to Boyd indicating that they knew that Robinson was dangerous and had regularly harassed and retaliated against women. Gress told Boyd No. 07-3235 Hawkins et al. v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc. Page 6 that Robinson’s “primary target is single black women” and that “if the woman threatened to take him to the office, weeks later minor things started happening to the woman.” Another supervisor, Terry Williamson, told Boyd that he knew that Robinson “had a dark side.” Robinson was suspended in May of 2003 after Hudson made her report and was terminated by the brewery on June 2, 2003. The union once again defended Robinson in the grievance process, but this time the Grievance Committee upheld his termination. Anheuser-Busch had a uniformed police officer escort Robinson off the premises, hired an investigator to monitor Robinson during the grievance process, and offered to hire security for both Hawkins and Jackson. Hawkins accepted the security but Jackson declined. On July 29, 2003, someone poured gasoline in Jackson’s basement and set fire to her house. Robinson was not an employee of the brewery at the time of the fire. Hawkins testified at her deposition that, after she reported the harassment to management but before Robinson was removed from line 75, other employees told her about rumors involving Robinson’s harassment of other women. Her brief, however, does not pinpoint any evidence in the record establishing that Hawkins knew about the specific incidents involving Chiandet, Cunningham, or Hill. The record does establish, however, that on the day Robinson poked Hawkins in the breast, Hudson told Hawkins about her ordeals with Robinson. Robinson’s termination became final on July 21, 2003, the date that the Grievance Committee affirmed Anheuser-Busch’s termination of Robinson. In August of 2003, while investigations into the two fires were ongoing, Robinson shot his girlfriend and then killed himself.