Childers v. General Motors Company LLC

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedJune 28, 2021
Docket2:16-cv-14428
StatusUnknown

This text of Childers v. General Motors Company LLC (Childers v. General Motors Company LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Childers v. General Motors Company LLC, (E.D. Mich. 2021).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN SOUTHERN DIVISION DENISE CHILDERS, Plaintiff, Civil Action No. 16-CV-14428 vs. HON. BERNARD A. FRIEDMAN GENERAL MOTORS LLC, Defendant. _______________________/ DENISE CHILDERS, Plaintiff, Civil Action No. 20-CV-10081 vs. HON. BERNARD A. FRIEDMAN GENERAL MOTORS LLC, Defendant. _______________________/ OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT This matter is presently before the Court on defendant’s motion in 20-10081 for summary judgment (ECF No. 157). Plaintiff has responded and defendant has replied. Pursuant to E.D. Mich. LR 7.1(f)(2), the Court shall decide this motion without a hearing. For the reasons stated below, the Court shall grant the motion. In these consolidated cases,1 plaintiff claims that defendant has violated her rights under various civil rights statutes. In 16-14428, which concerns the time frame before December

1 20-CV-10081 was assigned to the Court by blind draw. 16-14428 was reassigned to the Court in December 2019 when Judge Edmunds recused herself. See ECF No. 131. The two cases were then consolidated for all purposes. See ECF No. 132. 22, 2016, the Court granted summary judgment for defendant except on plaintiff’s claim that defendant retaliated against her for filing a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) in January 2016.2 See Childers v. Gen. Motors LLC, No. 16-14428, 2019 WL 630274 (E.D. Mich. Feb. 14, 2019). Specifically, the Court held that “[t]he alleged adverse acts

that took place after Plaintiff filed her EEOC complaint—not being assigned to an audit and being required to scan documents and organize electronic files—are sufficient to create a jury question on the issue of whether Plaintiff suffered an adverse employment action.” Id. at *8. The Court also found that a jury must determine causation, i.e., whether defendant took this allegedly adverse action because plaintiff filed an EEOC charge, as “the close temporal proximity between Plaintiff’s EEOC complaint and the reduced substantive responsibilities assigned to Plaintiff raises an inference that these acts were motivated by retaliatory animus”; and whether defendant had a legitimate, non- retaliatory reason for the allegedly adverse action. Id. at *8-9. Therefore, the only claim remaining

2 In this Charge of Discrimination, plaintiff stated in relevant part: I began working at for [sic] the above-named employer in November of 1989 and am currently employed as a Lead Corporate Auditor. In October of 2014 I made a complaint of race, sex and age discrimination by a co-worker. Since I made my complaint, my Supervisor has treated me differently and subjected me to greater scrutiny. I am no longer able to use my cell phone in the office even though my co-workers have no such restriction. I received an undeserved, negative evaluation in March of 2015 and was put on a performance improvement plan that lasted through October 21, 2015. Further, in April of 2015 I asked for an hour off per week due to my disability and was denied. Co-workers, who have not made discrimination complaints, are routinely accommodated when flexibility in their schedules are necessary. Pl.’s Ex. 3. 2 in 16-14428 is that by assigning plaintiff non-substantive work, defendant was retaliating against her for filing the EEOC charge. The claims in 20-10081 are “based upon GM’s alleged conduct between December 22, 2016 and December 20, 2019,” i.e., the period of time between the filing of plaintiff’s two

lawsuits. ECF No. 144 at 3 (quoting Pl.’s Br. in Resp. to Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss, ECF No. 140 at 1). The complaint in 20-10081 makes the following allegations in support of plaintiff’s claim that defendant discriminated and retaliated against her in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981: 62. Plaintiff is African American . . . 63. Defendant has intentionally discriminated against Plaintiff with respect to her employment, compensation, terms, conditions, and/or privileges of employment because of her race in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981. 64. Plaintiff engaged in multiple acts of activity protected by 42 U.S.C. § 1981 when she complained of and opposed Defendant’s and Defendant’s employees’ unlawful discrimination, harassment and retaliation, filed an administrative charge with the EEOC, and filed a lawsuit against Defendant in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on December 21, 2016, among other things. 65. Defendant treats other similarly situated non-African American employees better than Plaintiff. 66. Between December 22, 2016 and the present, Defendant intentionally discriminated and retaliated against Plaintiff, by among other things: a. Giving Plaintiff false and unjustified negative performance reviews and correspondingly lower performance-based compensation. b. Excessively monitoring Plaintiff’s attendance, and penalizing Plaintiff for missing work to attend medical appointments and obtain medical treatment, which was not done for other similarly situated salaried employees. 3 c. Applying GM employment practices and policies in a disparate manner and requiring Plaintiff to take medical leave to attend counseling sessions with her therapist or attend other medical appointments, whereas other employees were routinely permitted to attend doctor and other personal appointments during work hours. d. Unjustifiably giving lower bonuses (or no bonus at all) to Plaintiff when the vast majority of (if not all) similarly situated employees received higher bonuses than Plaintiff. e. Unjustifiably giving Plaintiff lower raises (or no raise at all) the [sic] vast majority of (if not all) similarly situated employees received higher raises than Plaintiff. 67. Defendant’s intentional discriminatory and retaliatory conduct was unlawful and carried out with malice or with reckless indifference towards Plaintiff. 68. As a direct, natural, and proximate consequence of the foregoing, Plaintiff has suffered damages . . . . Compl. (in 20-10081) ¶¶ 62-68. Legal Standards Defendant seeks summary judgment on these § 1981 claims.3 In deciding this motion, the Court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion for summary judgment. Kirilenko-Ison v. Bd. of Educ. of Danville Indep. Schs., 974 F.3d 652, 660 (6th Cir. 2020). “This includes drawing ‘all justifiable inferences’ in the nonmoving party’s favor.” George, 966 F.3d at 458 (quoting Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S. Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 3 It appears that defendant also seeks reconsideration of Judge Edmunds’ ruling that the retaliation claim in 16-14428 survived defendant’s summary judgment motion in that case. See Def.’s Reply at 6 n.8 (PageID.6989). Judge Edmunds denied defendant’s motion for reconsideration of that ruling in September 2019. See Childers v. Gen. Motors LLC, No. 16-14428, 2019 WL 4735396 (E.D. Mich. Sept. 28, 2019). The Court does not intend to revisit that ruling. 4 (1986)). “[T]he judge’s function is not himself to weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial.” Jackson-VHS, 814 F.3d at 775 (quoting Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249, 106 S. Ct. 2505). Strickland v. City of Detroit, 995 F.3d 495, 503 (6th Cir. 2021). “We review claims of alleged race discrimination [and retaliation] brought under § 1981 and the Elliott-Larsen Act under the same standards as claims of race discrimination brought under Title VII ....” Jackson v.

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Bluebook (online)
Childers v. General Motors Company LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/childers-v-general-motors-company-llc-mied-2021.