Whether Title VII permits a hostile work environment claim based on allegations of unwanted physical contact and sexual harassment by a supervisor and coworkers in the workplace

No question identified. : Case Document 69 Filed 07/21/22 Page 1 of 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA NORTHERN DIVISION BERNADETTE DICKERSON, ) Plaintiff, ; Vv. CIV. ACT. NO. 2:20-cv-163-ECM KOCH FOODS, LLC, et al., Defendants. FINAL JUDGMENT In accordance with the order entered on this date adopting the Recommendation of the Magistrate Judge, it is the ORDER, JUDGMENT and DECREE of the Court that judgment is entered in favor of the Defendants and agiinst the Plaintiff, and that this case is DISMISSED with prejudice. The Clerk is DIRECTED to enter this document on the civil docket as a Final Judgment pursuant to Rule 58 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Done this 21st day of July, 2022. /s/ Emily C. Marks EMILY C. MARKS CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE USCA11 Case: 22-12434 Document: 30-1 Date Filed: 08/21/2023 Page: 1 of 13 [DO NOT PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals Hor the Eleventh Circuit No. 22-12434 Non-Argument Calendar BERNADETTE DICKERSON, versus KOCH FOODS, LLC, KOCH FOODS OF ALABAMA, LLC, Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama D.C. Docket No. USCA11 Case: 22-12434 Document: 30-1 Date Filed: 08/21/2023 Page: 2 of 13 2 Opinion of the Court 22-12434 Before GRANT, LaGoa, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Bernadette Dickerson, pro se, appeals the district court’s summary judgment on her complaint alleging employment discrimination and retaliation. Based on our review of the record and the parties’ briefs, we affirm. We deny Dickerson’s motion to supplement the record on appeal with evidence that she failed to present to the district court. I. Dickerson began working for Koch Foods of Alabama, LLC, in April 2019. In May 2019, she applied for and received a position as a quality assurance technician. Eula Tarver selected Dickerson for the position and acted as her direct supervisor. According to Dickerson, Tarver frequently rubbed her breasts against Dickerson’s back when squeezing between Dickerson and another employee during the first week of her training in the quality assurance position. Dickerson says that she told the other employee, Crystal Jones, about this unwanted contact, and Jones replied that Tarver “was rubbing up on her too.” Dickerson believes that Jones must have told Tarver about Dickerson’s complaint, because Tarver immediately stopped brushing against her. Dickerson also claims that two other employees touched and teased her inappropriately during the next few months of her employment at Koch Foods. She says that a coworker, LeShawn USCA11 Case: 22-12434 Document: 30-1 Date Filed: 08/21/2023 Page: 3 of 13 22-12434 Opinion of the Court 3 Haile, hugged her from behind “all the time,” but stopped when she really got antoyed and told him emphatically not to touch her. She also says that another coworker, Tryonne Brown, asked her for sex “all the time” during her first month or so in the quality assurance department, and on one occasion, he touched her bottom. Dickerson “went off’ on Brown when he touched her, and he never did it again. Later, on August 12, 2019, Dickerson and Brown got into an argument at work. Dickerson claims that Brown tried to push her over with his cart, and she and Brown both used profanity. Dickerson says that she reported Brown’s prior inappropriate behavior to her department manager (Chiquita Patterson) after the incident, though she acknwledged that it had stopped by the time she reported it. Both Brown and Dickerson were suspended from work for violating Koch Foods’s workplace conduct rules. Not long after Dickerson returned from her suspension, Jones complained to Human Resources that Dickerson was harassing her. Jones complained that she had had “previous incidents” with Dickerson, and that on August 19, 2019, Dickerson had asked her “Why are you looking nervous?” Ten days later, Jones and another employee reported that Dickerson—who was upset because she believed t