PEORIA (LN) — U.S. District Judge Jonathan E. Hawley on Thursday denied a joint motion to reconsider his March order certifying a class of female healthcare workers who allege they were subjected to a hostile work environment of sexual harassment at Pontiac Correctional Center.
The ruling preserves the class certification in a lawsuit filed by five plaintiffs, including Heather Kainz and Sara Bailey, against the Illinois Department of Corrections, Wexford Health Sources, and several individual defendants. The plaintiffs, who are mental and medical healthcare workers, allege the defendants intentionally subjected them to unequal and discriminatory treatment in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
The crux of the plaintiffs' claims is that they were forced to endure exposure to masturbation and other vulgarities on a regular basis as a term and condition of their employment.
In his March 10 order, Hawley certified the class under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(2) for injunctive relief and 23(b)(3) for damages. He refined the class definition to include "non-executive" employees rather than "nonsupervisory" ones, a change defendants argued created ambiguity.
Defendants argued in their motion to reconsider that Hawley misapplied the Seventh Circuit's decision in Howard v. Cook County Sheriff's Office, 989 F.3d 587 (7th Cir. 2021), which denied class certification in a similar case. They contended that the 16 different job classifications and varying levels of exposure among class members defeated commonality and typicality.
Hawley rejected those arguments, noting that the defendants were simply disagreeing with his analysis rather than demonstrating manifest error. He emphasized that all class members worked in Pontiac's Programs Department and held civilian positions requiring face-to-face interaction with the prison's all-male, predominantly maximum-security population.
Hawley cited the Seventh Circuit’s observation in Howard that "some variation among class claims is inevitable." But he distinguished this case from Howard, where the Seventh Circuit found significant variation in harassment levels across different parts of a jail complex. In this case, Hawley noted that class members traveled throughout the same prison locations, rendering their worker-specific inquiries not unique enough to defeat commonality.
The judge also addressed defendants' concerns about the inclusion of supervisors. He agreed with plaintiffs that the refined "non-executive" definition excluded true management-level employees while including those with limited supervisory authority, such as nurse practitioners and registered nurses.
Hawley noted that the defendants' arguments regarding the role of the Savage Life gang in the prison's crisis were not appropriate for the class certification stage. He also rejected the argument that individualized assessments of damages would preclude certification, citing Seventh Circuit precedent supporting hybrid certification in Title VII pattern-or-practice claims.
The case is referred back to the magistrate judge for further proceedings. Hawley warned that any party filing a further motion for reconsideration that is subsequently denied will be responsible for the opposing party's attorney's fees related to the response.