Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 857088.pdf

Citation: Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 857088.pdf
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
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Original Source: https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/857088.pdf ↗

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Manning or work it out herself,” and Manning, in turn, accused Rotz of acting

improperly during a sale. When Rotz told Bittner how Symetra had responded to

her complaint, Bitter told her, “[Y]ou need to get legal advice. This isn’t right.”

Symetra fired Rotz in February 2015, and she then sued Symetra alleging, among

other claims, that it unlawfully harassed and discriminated against her on the basis

of gender. Rotz and Symetra settled this lawsuit in 2016.

1 Because the principal issue in this appeal is whether the trial court erred in granting in part

Symetra’s motion for summary judgment, the facts herein are set forth in the light most favorable
to Bittner, the non-moving party, based on the evidence submitted on summary judgment. See
Blue Diamond Grp., Inc. v. KB Seattle 1, Inc., 163 Wn. App. 449, 453, 266 P.3d 881 (2011).

-2-
For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.
No. 85708-8-I

A similar incident occurred with a Symetra Regional Sales Executive, Jane

Doe. 2 In 2014, Doe confided in Bittner that her manager, Chris Koettker, was

sexually harassing her. As he did with Rotz, Bittner reported the behavior to HR

and encouraged Doe to do the same, which she did. Symetra did not investigate

Doe’s complaints, and Symetra’s Executive Vice President, Michael Fry, told

Bittner to “take [his] nose out of other managers’ business and to mind the matters

in [his] own division.” When Doe expressed her frustration with Symetra’s failure

to respond meaningfully to her complaint, Bittner told her she should “seek legal

advice and find out what she can do.” Doe subsequently left Symetra and then

sent a demand letter to the company accusing it of subjecting her to sexual