Cutrona v. Sun Health Corp. (Summary)

DISCRIMINATION/HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT

Cutrona v. Sun Health Corp., No. CV 06-2184-PHX-MHM (D. Ariz. Sept. 30, 2008)

The United States District Court for the District of Arizona denied in part and granted in part a health care organization’s motion for summary judgment in an employment discrimination suit brought by a charge nurse following her termination and held, among other things, that the nurse’s hostile work environment claim failed because her supervisor’s comments, although “extremely offensive,” did not constitute discrimination based on sex. Further, the court noted that while the supervisor’s offensive comments were quite pervasive, only one of them had been directed at the nurse and that comment was neither “severe” nor “pervasive” enough to sustain a hostile work environment complaint.

The court also examined several other claims brought by the nurse. In addressing her disparate treatment claim, the court concluded that the nurse failed to show that discriminatory intent motivated any possible disparate treatment. However, the court sustained the nurse’s whistleblower claim indicating that there was a question of fact regarding whether her alleged safety complaints were a substantial motivating factor in her termination. Finally, the nurse’s retaliation claim was allowed to proceed considering the “temporal proximity” between her protected activity (i.e., raising concerns about alleged discrimination and unsafe workplace conditions) and the adverse employment actions to which she was subjected.