MEMORANDUM
Plaintiff Jamie Lewis brings suit against the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners (“the Board”), Jerome Jones, and others, alleging sex discrimination, retaliation, and disability discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”).
BACKGROUND
Lewis began working as a language arts teacher at Northeast Middle School in August 2006. (Lewis Dep. 25, Mot. Summ. J. Ex. A, ECF No. 18-2.) Wanda Young, the principal of the school at the time, promoted Lewis to the position of assistant principal in March 2007. (Id. at 25-27, 32.) By the 2011-2012 academic year,, however, Lewis and Young’s relationship had become strained. Young sent Lewis an email expressing her dismay when Lewis attended a professional development seminar without Young’s permission. (Young June 22, 2011 Email,. Mot. Summ. J. Ex. B, ECF No. 18-3.) Young also wrote to Lewis to explain that Lewis had failed to attend a meeting Young had scheduled, and that Lewis did not follow protocol when signing out. (Young October 21-28, 2011 Emails, Summ. J. Ex. F, ECF No. 18-7; Young October 26, 2011 Email, Summ. J. Ex. G, ECF No. 18-8.) Young notified Lewis when
In December 2011, Lewis filed a sexual harassment complaint with the Baltimore City Public Schools Equal Employment Opportunity Office (“EEO Office”). (Lewis Dep. 151.)
Because the EEO Office determined that Lewis’s allegations amounted to “a generalized complaint of misconduct,” and not sexual harassment under Title VII, the EEO Office transferred the complaint to the Board’s Office of Staff Investigations (“Staff Investigations”), which handles general complaints of staff misconduct. (Jones Response, Pl.’s Opp’n Ex. 37, ECF No. 24; Lewis Dep. 152-153.) On August 20, 2012, Staff Investigations sent Lewis a letter confirming that the department had completed its investigation of her complaint and determined that “the allegations are ... substantiated.” (Staff Investigations Letter, Def.’s Mot. Summ. J. Ex. L, ECF No. 18-13.) As a result of the findings, Young was demoted from her principal position at Northeast Middle School. (Jones Response.)
Lewis became ill from stress she suffered due to her work environment, and on February 7, 2012, the Board granted Lewis’s request for leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) to take care of her health condition from January 25, 2012 until May 26, 2012. (FMLA Letter, Def.’s Mot. Summ. J. Ex. M, ECF No. 18-14; Lewis Dep. 149-150.) On June 8, 2012, Lewis notified the Board that she would return to work on June 12, 2012 as an assistant principal at Coppin Academy High School, a charter school within the Baltimore City Public School System. (Lewis June 12, 2012 Letter, Def.’s Mot. Summ. J. Ex. N, ECF No. 18-15; Lewis Dep. 153-154.) Coppin Academy offered Lewis a position while she was on FMLA leave, and Lewis worked at the school for
On June 29, 2012, the Board sent Lewis a letter notifying her that she would be reassigned to a teacher level position for the 2012-2013 academic year pursuant to Md. Code Ann., Educ. § 6-201, which permits the chief executive officer to “transfer [personnel] as the needs of the schools require.” ' (First Reassignment Letter, Def.’s Mot. Summ. J. Ex. O, ECF No. 18-16.) Lewis received an unsatisfactory annual evaluation for the 2011-2012 academic year from Northeast Middle School’s executive director, Sean Conley, om July 26, 2012. (Annual Evaluation Report, Def.’s Mot. Summ. J. Ex. P, ECF No. 18-17; Lewis Dep. 32, 178-179.) Conley rated Lewis as unsatisfactory in four categories: improves instructional practices through purposeful observation and' monitoring of teachers and other staff; ensures the regular integration of appropriate assessments into daily classroom instruction; uses multiple sources of data to improve classroom instruction; and maintains appropriate standards of professionalism, including completing and submitting all reports and requests for information in a timely manner. (Annual Evaluation Report.) Conley’s comments focused on the incompleteness of Lewis’s formal observations and her inconsistent attendance. (Id.) On August 16, 2012, the Board again notified Lewis that effective August 20, 2012, she would be reassigned as a teacher and that her compensation would be commensurate with that position. (Second Reassignment Letter, Def.’s Mot. Summ. J. Ex. Q, ECF No. 18-18; Lewis Dep. 162.) Lewis was assigned to Carter G. Woodson Elementary/Middle School as an English teacher. (Assignment Email, Def.’s Mot. Summ. J. Ex. R, ECF No. 18-19.) In September 2012, Lewis resigned her employment with the Board. (Lewis Dep. 166-169.)
In addition to her sex discrimination and retaliation claims, Lewis also alleges that Young violated the confidentiality provisions of the ADA by sharing her medical records. On December 6, 2011, Lewis’s husband faxed Young a return to work slip from Lewis’s psychiatrist, and Lewis claims that Young, shared the information in her doctor’s note with Victoria Parrish-James, a grade level administrator. (Return to Work Slip, PL’s Opp’n, ECF No. 24; Lewis Dep. 142-143.) The slip provides that Lewis “[w]ill be totally disabled” from December 6 until December 16, and she would be able to return to work on December 16. (Return to Work Slip.) Young told Parrish-James that Lewis’s" doctor was a psychiatrist and that Lewis was crazy. (Lewis Dep. 143.)
Lewis filed a charge of discrimination with the Baltimore Community Relations Commission on September 7, 2012. (Charge of Discrimination, Mot. Summ. J. Ex. S, ECF No. 18-20.) In her charge, Lewis claimed her employer discriminated against her due to her disability and in retaliation for participating in a protected activity. (Charge of Discrimination.) The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) did not find any violations. (EEOC Dismissal and Notice of Rights 3, Supp. Compl., ECF No. 2.)
ANALYSIS
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(a) provides that summary judgment should be granted “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter1 of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a) (emphases added). “A dispute is gen
I. Individual Defendants
Individuals cannot be held liable under Title VII or the ADA. Lissau v. S. Food Serv., Inc.,
. II. Sexual Harassment
Lewis has alleged that Young created a hostile work environment by discriminating against her based on gender. To prevail on a “hostile work environment” sexual harassment claim under Title VII, an employee must prove that the harassment was: (1) unwelcome, (2) based on sex, (3) sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of employment, and (4) imputable to her employer. See Pueschel v. Peters,
Notably, “Title VII does not prohibit all verbal or physical harassment in the workplace.” Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Servs., Inc.,
Harassment that occurs between two individuals of the same sex may be sexual harassment under Title VII. Oncale,
Lewis has not shown that Young targeted her because of her sex. There is no evidence that Young’s actions were based on her sexual .interest m Lewis. Additionally, the plaintiff presents no evidence that Young was generally hostile towards other women at the school or that she treated women differently from men. Although the plaintiff has alleged facts that Young acted inappropriately by reprimanding her in front of her colleagues and by sending her an anonymous letter claiming to be her husband’s mistress and insulting her appearance, Lewis has not shown that Young took those actions because of Lewis’s gender. Young’s description of the plaintiffs appearance as “a he-man with that big, donkey ass” implies that, in Young’s view, Lewis is not sufficiently feminine, but “it is not enough that the challenged conduct be sex-specific.” See Lack v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.,
III. Retaliation
Lewis claims her employer retaliated in response to her complaint against Young. To establish a prima facie case of retaliation, a plaintiff must show that she: (1) engaged in a protected activity; (2) the employer acted adversely against her; and (3) the protected activity and the adverse action were causally connected. Holland v. Washington Homes, Inc.,
In the context of the first element of a retaliation claim, an employee is protected not only when she opposes employment actions that are actually unlawful under Title VII, but also when she opposes employment actions she reasonably believes to be unlawful. Boyer-Liberto v. Fontainebleau Corp.,
Lewis’s EEOC charge, in which she claims the Board retaliated against her, generally limits the scope of the court’s inquiry into the alleged adverse employment actions. See Chacho v. Patuxent Inst.,
In evaluating causation at the pri-ma facie stage of the betaliation analysis, courts often consider: (1) whether the allegedly retaliatory actor was aware that the plaintiff had engaged in the protected activity at the time of the allegedly retaliatory act, and (2) the temporal proximity between the protected activity and the allegedly retaliatory act. Baqir v. Principi,
In order for temporal proximity alone to satisfy the causation prong of the prima facie case, the temporal proximity must be very close. See Allen v. Rumsfeld,
However, even if Lewis had established a prima facie case of retaliation, the Board has satisfied its burden of providing a legitimate non-retaliatory reason for its allegedly retaliatory acts. In both of its letters to Lewis informing her of her reassignment, the Board explained that she was being reassigned because of the needs of the school system. Although Lewis was offered the assistant principal position at Coppin Academy, it had not been approved. Additionally, the Board has provided attendance sheets, which document Lewis’s regular absences, and Lewis’s formal observations, in which whole sections are left blank. Lewis’s inconsistent attendance and incomplete formal observations demonstrate that she was not meeting the Board’s job performance expectations. Therefore, the Board had cause to issue a negative performance evaluation and reassign Lewis to a teaching position.
Because the Board has proffered legitimate nón-retaliatory reasons for its acts, under the McDonnell Douglas framework, Lewis has the burden of showing that “retaliation was a büt-for cause of a challenged adverse employment action.” Foster,
IV. ADA
Lewis claims that Young disclosed her confidential medical information in violation of the confidentiality provisions of the ADA when she told Lewis’s colleague that Lewis was seeing a psychiatrist, information Young learned from a return to work slip.that Lewis’s husband faxed her. The ADA makes it illegal for an employer to “discriminate against a qualified individual on the basis of disability....” 42 U.S.C. § 12112(a). The ADA defines disability as “(A) a physical or mental impair
Lewis has not established that she has a disability as the ADA defines it. Essentially, Lewis’s claim is that Young’s actions caused her to suffer from the mental impairment of job-related stress, which limited her in the major life activity of working under 42 U.S.C. § 12102(2)(A). A temporary impairment generally does not qualify as a disability under the ADA because a condition that will improve in a relatively short period of time does not meet the ADA’s “substantially limits” requirement. Pollard v. High’s of Baltimore, Inc.,
Lewis presents no evidence that her impairment was more than temporary. She was granted FMLA leave beginning on January 25, 2012, and she notified the Board she was able to return to work as an assistant principal at Coppin Academy on June 12, 2012. During the 2012-2013 academic year, she worked for Edison Learning, Inc. at Montebello Elementary Junior Academy as an academy director, which she says is the equivalent to an assistant principal, and she is currently employed as a lecturer and coordinator of Professional Development Schools at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. (Lewis Curriculum Vitae, PL’s Opp’n Ex. 41, ECF No. 24.) Her reemployment demonstrates that she is not “disabled,” as defined in the ADA, and that her impairment was only temporary. At most, Lewis has shown an inability to work under Young, but not being able to work with a particular supervisor does not qualify as a disability under the ADA. See, e.g., Weiler v. Household Finance Corp.,
Even if Lewis’s job-related stress were a disability under the ADA, it is not clear that Lewis’s return to work slip is protected by the confidentiality provisions of the ADA. The ADA limits the scope of information that employers may seek and disclose about their employees’ medical conditions. See 42 U.S.C. § 12112(d). “[A]n employer is prohibited from requiring a medical examination or making inquiries of an employee as to whether he is an ‘individual with a disability or as to the nature or severity of the disability' unless such examination or inquiry is shown to be job-related and consistent with business necessity.’ ” Porter v. U.S. Alumoweld Co.,
CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated above, the court will grant the defendants’ motion for summary judgment.
A separate order follows.
Notes
. Lewis also sues Tisha Edwards, Kim Lewis, Tenia Rogers, Sean Conley, and Wanda Young. The plaintiff mailed copies of summonses with the complaint to these individual defendants, but because they are no longer Board employees, the Board did not accept service on their behalf and does not represent them. It appears they have not been served.
. Neither parly has provided 'the court with a copy of the complaint.
